Twelve DRAWs of Christmas
by Chronic Guardian
Summary: [Deckverse] Even in the lives of super secret Deck agents, there's still time to reflect on the important things in life. [Twelve Shots of Summer: Quarter Queller]
1. 01: Ace in the Hole

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 01: Ace in the Hole**

By Chronic Guardian

 _-Black J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #101: Conversation between members Ace and Seven en route to MATH tower as follows:_

"Christmas in Tokyo, eh?"

"Yeah, can't wait to be back in my city!"

"Hmm..."

"...You okay?"

"I'm… fine, don't worry about it."

"Were you looking forward to Christmas in Siberia?"

"Might not be so bad by comparison."

"Seriously? Maybe you just haven't seen the right side of Tokyo."

"Well... I've certainly seen one side I don't like so much."

"Okay, look, Suzu, once we get everything squared away with the Director, you, me, and the gang can go on a little field trip to—"

"Suzu?"  
"Yeah. You. That's your real name, right? I mean, that's what your file has down. I figure since we're off the clock, we can drop the codenames."

"Could you stick to calling me Median? It's… been a long time since I used my actual name."

"...I dunno. Too be honest, I think it sounds kind of stiff."

"Sorry about that, Mr. Leader."

"Probably won't get used to the whole 'leader' thing either, now that you bring it up."

"Really? You don't like being in charge?"

"What? Oh! Naw, I'm fine with it mostly. I just… don't always feel very leader-ly. You know?"

"...If you say so."

"Well, yeah, I mean—Okay, seriously? And what's _that_ face for?"

"Don't mind me, Mr. Leader. You're just… a really interesting guy."

"Yeah, well, pretty sure that's what they pay me for."

"Heheh… Yeah. Probably."

"Now, about that field trip..."

"Might be a while."

"Why's that? Gotta settle back in at the ol' nest?"

"No. Ms. Reagan said you've got a meeting with the Red Ace. Apparently you've got a visit with CAT lined up."

"Oh, _that._ "

"In the words of Double Junior: 'Zetta fun times'?"

"I dunno. Could be. Only one way to find out, of course."

"And you're taking it head on?"

"Any other way you see this going down?"

"Hmph… Have fun then."

-Close(DRAW#101)-

After the Black division's carrier ship landed, the hanger at Minami-MATH Corp. resumed its relative quiet of humming monitors and hissing automated service hoses. The carrier itself hailed from the late Raptor design line, sporting a double-deck "humpback" hull and folding wings that doubled as cloak emitters. Although it was named for a bird, the vessel was doing a better impression of the world's largest charred walnut at the moment. Or at least, that was how Reiko saw it.

 **Reiko Rikamizu – Ace of Red J0KER**

Reiko took a moment to straighten her lapels and brush a few wisps of blonde hair back away from her eyes before approaching the docked transport. She had her hair in a bun. She always chose buns. Simple, yet elegant. Matched with her unassuming beige business-wear, it all came together to give her a smooth, neutral look. Undemanding, but not unattractive. Whether or not anyone else realized it, Reiko lived by the words like bread and butter.

Ahead of her, the carrier's boarding ramp clicked and whined as steaming relief jets filled the air with oily smells and recycled oxygen. Usually, a person of her position would wait until touchdown was complete before even setting foot in the hangar. Reiko had her own way of doing things. Maybe she was impatient, maybe she was personal. Either way, she was determined to be the first to greet the returning Ace.

As the ramp lowered, she could catch a glimpse of the bedraggled crew inside preparing to exit. She counted six bodies from the neck down with more possible behind the first wall. Even though they were out of range from her sixth sense, she got the slight sinking feeling that Leo wasn't among them.

Still, she was an Ace, and they were part of J0KER. If nothing else, she owed them a welcome on those grounds.

Raising a hand in greeting, Reiko put on a smile as warm and sweet as honey-ginger tea and moved to meet the returnees.

"Welcome back!" she offered, placing herself at the bottom of the ramp. She could now confirm her target was definitely not at the boarding ramp. Maybe he was finalizing something up on the bridge? Assuring herself he'd come out when he was ready, Reiko pushed the thought to the back of her mind and went about making herself congenial. "Productive exercises this trip?"

One of the passengers, a young woman with dark curly hair and a kind look in her eyes smiled back. "More or less."

 **Suzu/Median – Six of Black J0KER**

"Excellent," Reiko nodded. "And the new management?"

Her question was answered by a quickly approaching yell coming from the bridge window. She had just enough time to turn around and see a young man in a black hoodie almost belly flop into the hangar floor before an invisible cushion caught his fall and gently lowered him the rest of the way.

Reiko raised an eyebrow and suppressed an amused smirk. Even if the O-Gene essentially made them super heroes, many of the Deck operatives were still kids at heart. Other higher ups in their organization would probably frown on treating their extraordinary abilities as a play thing. Reiko saw it as an essential exercise in the individual.

Besides, at the end of the day, it wasn't like anyone was getting hurt. The young man rolled over onto his back, laughing, and flashed a thumbs up back towards the cockpit.

 **Leo Parker – Ace of Black J0KER**

"Perfect timing, Getotsu!"

With the congratulations out of the way, the Black Ace had just enough time to jump to his feet and move to the side before a blonde woman with camouflage-print trousers repeated his stunt. Reiko barely had time to recognize her in the split-second before impact. The girl had a long, trailing braid that marked her fall like lightning and a fearless, face-first position that made her look more like a practiced diver about to plunge into a pool instead of polished steel.

A half-moment later, she hit the same rescuing force Leo had just enjoyed. Gracefully somersaulting into a crouch, she dusted herself off and almost smiled before catching sight of Reiko.

 **Neliel Reagan – Ten of Black J0KER**

"Ms. Rikamizu?" the falling girl said, a curious note coloring her tone.

"Sorry to cut the fun short," Reiko apologized, flicking at the imagined annoyance with one hand while tucking the other across her chest. "We've got to deal with the stuffy stuff sooner or later though, right? Better to get it out of the way before the real fun begins."

"Oh, no, it's not that," Reagan protested. "It's just… funny that you're the one greeting us. I mean, you're an Ace, right?"

"Absolutely," Reiko smiled before gesturing to Leo. "And so is he."

Reagan slipped a glance towards Leo and pressed her lips together, but ultimately held her peace.

"Speaking of you, Mr. Parker," Reiko went on, "I'd be very honored if you would join me for a stroll down in the Midori District. Just us Aces."

"A day on the town?" Leo paused for the briefest of moments before grinning and offering a hand. "Let's make it happen!"

Reiko took the hand and shook it with casual cordiality. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she asked coyly. She was fairly certain of the answer already, but she liked to have these things affirmed by the active elements.

"Naw, it's fine. Reagan said there's somewhere you wanna show me. So long as we make it to dinner, I'm good."

Reiko's eyes squinted in a soft smile. "Very well then, Mr. Parker, it's a date. See you in the lobby?"

Throwing a final wave over her shoulder, Reiko enjoyed the sound of confused speculation in her wake. Someday they would learn to not take her so seriously. For now, she would enjoy the invisible power they thought she had.

In the meantime, there was work to be done. She checked her CARD and played with her bangs on the elevator ride down. Today was going to be fun.

-J-

Leo didn't keep her waiting long. After a few check-ins at the front desk, they were off to the train station and then to the Midori. They rode all the way to the heart of the district before getting off and taking to the streets again. Leo dutifully stayed by her side as they ascended to the shady sidewalks, but his eyes wandered across the building tops, no doubt tracing his preferred route.

"I appreciate your patience, Mr. Parker," she told him abruptly. "You can play on the way back."

"Huh?"

"Free running. It's a hobby of yours, isn't it? You can take the high road when we turn in for the day."

"Mmm… nah, I think I'll stick with you. Wouldn't be very cool of me to leave you in the dust during our 'date'."

Reiko covered a giggle. "I'm an Ace, Mr. Parker. I think I can handle myself. Besides, if trouble tracks us down we'll both have to run anyway."

Leo returned with a tilted look. "Really? I mean… we'd be two Aces working together. That's gotta count for something."

"We're also two conduits," she hummed without breaking stride. "Neither of us can do much without another O-Gene to copy from." That weakness was the caveat to having endless adaptability. Strangely, Reiko was more thankful for the flaw than resentful. Conduits were so legendary on the battlefield that most people forgot they were still human underneath it all. To Reiko, that was the important part.

"...Right, so running it is," Leo nodded after a moment. "Except… that might not actually work."

"Why? Feeling out of practice?" Reiko suggested, raising a mindful eyebrow. Again, she suspected something deeper, but she would rather have him say it. "You pulled off that stunt in the hangar well enough—granted, with help from your gravity bender. What's his name?"

"You mean Getotsu? I mean, he says it's not actually gravity he's bending but—"

"—but that's not the point, I know," the Red Ace admitted. "You're not worried about yourself."

"Right!"  
"You're worried about everyone else."

"Uh, how did you—?"

"We're both Aces," Reiko reminded him as they passed into one of the many parks in the district. "Underneath all the pomp and ceremony, we both got the same position for a reason."

The air greeting them inside the park walls carried the slight fragrance of fruit trees in hibernation. As the rebuilt Tokyo's "Green" district, the Midori housed the majority of parks in the city, along with a large share of the hydroponics and recycling industries. As they started down the path, Reiko let the conversation die down for a moment before switching gears.

"Do you enjoy parks, Mr. Parker?"

Leo nodded as they passed under a pair of plum trees, standing on either side of the path like wooden sentinels. "I learned my first free running moves on a jungle gym over in the Kiiro. Always thought it was more fun to run up the slides than go down 'em."

"Funny. I pegged you as more of a tree climber."

"Oh, yeah, I did that too," Leo assured her, taking a moment to bat at one of the low hanging limbs overhead. "But I started with the metal stuff. It was lower to the ground, easier to reach. I had to learn how to vault before I could get into any of the really big trees. Plus, once you get big enough, people start getting mad at you for that kind of thing. Not really socially acceptable, I guess."

"There are exceptions to every rule," Reiko noted evenly. "Especially in J0KER."

"Yeah, about that..."

The Red Ace raised her eyebrows in an inviting look. "Yes?"

"What's the thing you're taking me to? Y'know, CAT or whatever."

"Ah, the good old CommArmTech," Reiko nodded. "Communications, Armory, and Technology." She bounced a pointed finger once for every listing. "They're a private company that more or less makes the backbone of Deck efforts in Tokyo."

"Including J0KER?"  
"Not strictly speaking. J0KER tends to operate more within Minami-MATH Corp. jurisdiction."

"Oh..." Leo paused a second to stare at the path ahead before again turning to Reiko. "So… is it an Aces thing?"

"CAT? Oh, no. We'll just swing by for a cup of coffee once we finish up here. Sanae makes a divine cup of joe, if I do say so myself."

Reiko loved how the phrase "cup of joe" sounded in the midst of her gentle, refined diction.

Leo crossed his arms and tilted his head to a quizzical angle.

"Yes?" Reiko put in, right as he opened his mouth.

He paused for a moment, stopped by her tactically placed interruption, before trying again. "You're… not really what I expected," he said.

The assessment was fair and frank, not accusatory or apologetic. Reiko liked it just as much as her own juxtaposition.

"That's fair," she answered, clasping her hands behind her back in an easy stretch. "Most people assume Aces are some kind of master race, chosen for their O-Gene potential. That's funny, when you really think about it. Here we are, two Aces, and both of us would be absolutely powerless without another Deck member around to help."

"Well… I mean," Leo scratched at the back of his head and chuckled. "I wouldn't say 'absolutely' powerless."

"Hmm, yes," Reiko put a hand to her chin before nodding sagely. "That diction's not you. What about 'totally'?"

The purposeful misunderstanding, though admittedly cheesy, was still enough to get another chuckle out of the young man. "Seriously?"

Reiko grinned back and opened her mouth to reply when a mournful cry cut through the cold, winter air.

"Heeelp! C'mon, anybody!"

The two Aces exchanged a look and Reiko nodded her head towards the sound. "Duty calls?"

"Leave it to me!"

Leo took off at a sprint while Reiko set the fastest pace a pencil skirt would allow. Thankfully, the scene of the emergency was only just over the hill so she didn't have far to go. Once there, she found a young woman in loose, casual clothes and a man in a business suit watching as Leo scaled a nearby leafless tree. Peeking just out of the man's pocket was a CARD, the signature device of Deck operatives.

Reiko smiled to herself.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked, coming between the two observers.

"Oh!" The business man turned abruptly. He looked young, poiseless, unbroken by the world. Reiko's type of man, to be sure. "He's… um..."

"He's rescuing Nimew!" the girl finished, pointing towards the upper branches.

Following the gesture, Reiko could just make out a black bundle of fur clinging to the top branches. The cat gave an indignant meow, as if hurt by the insinuation that it had failed independent escape.

"We were lucky someone like him was nearby," the business man went on. "I'm not really, uh… cut-out for that kind of thing."

"No?" Reiko asked with a gentle smile, giving a quick glance to the man's semi-exposed CARD. "You seem like you'd do just fine, circumstances permitting."

"Makoto?" the girl asked. Reiko detected a generous hint of incredulity. "Well… I guess. But he's definitely not the hero of this story."

"H-hey! Yumi-chan—"

"No offense," the girl cut in, giving a frustrated sigh. "I mean… I'm just a side character here, too. I don't know how we'd resolve this conflict if it weren't for that guy."

"I know," Reiko said, watching as Leo carefully extracted the cat from its perch and began his descent. "He acts without a single thought for himself the moment he sees someone in trouble."

The business man perked up. "Oh! You know him?"

"I know his type," Reiko returned, carefully deflecting the association. As much as she would like to extoll Leo's virtues, any prolonged conversation ran the risk of touching on Aces, and Deck, and all sorts of names and organizations that got in the way of the really important thing. "He's a good guy."

"I guess that's as a good a moral to this story as any," the girl sighed, moving towards the tree as Leo approached the lower branches. Once there, he carefully lowered his precious cargo down to its waiting owners.

"Thanks, thank you so much!"

"Yeah! Really, you helped us out of a tight spot."

"No worries," Leo told them, throwing a casual two-finger salute and a smile. His legs dangled idly from between the branches, like a child hanging on a swing. "Just happy I could help!"

Reiko watched as the two headed off, eager to take their cat somewhere where it couldn't get itself into trouble, before turning back to her compatriot.

"That, Mr. Parker, is why you get to be Ace."

His grin faltered for a second and he leaned down closer, as if suspecting he'd misheard. "...What?"

"It's not the power," she explained patiently. "Aces don't have to be the biggest, strongest, or oldest in their suit. That's not how it works. For J0KER, it's all in the approach. You get to be Ace because you don't need powers to help people. You're a good gift."

"Yeah, I guess so," Leo's smile turned a bit sheepish. "Just part of who I am, really."

"Well…" Reiko looked back towards the path and straightening her clothes. "I suppose that makes my point well enough. Now, how about that coffee, Mr. Partridge?"

"Uh… Partridge?"

"You're a good gift," Reiko returned, as if the punch line was obvious. A few steps later, she added, "And that's a pear tree you're sitting in."

"Wait… really? How do you tell without the leaves? Or fruit? Or—"

"I know its type," she answered simply. "Just like I know ours."

"So… you think I'll make a good leader?"

She smiled and headed back towards the path. "Trust me, Leo," she said over her shoulder. "You're the Ace in the hole."

 **-End [01]-**

Author's Notes:

Hey there reader! If you stumbled on this story by accident, you're probably asking yourself what the heck this is and what strange stretch of the imagination relates it to **TWEWY**. Basically, this anthology is set in the **J0KERverse** , an offshoot of the **Deckverse** (created by **Amulet Misty** ). The **Deckverse** is a future version of **TWEWY** where psyches are manifested in the **O-Gene** , a genetic accelerator (Or some other form of vague "science") that gives the subject super powers not unlike the pin abilities in the original **TWEWY**. In _**Deck 104**_ , Misty explores the four suits of Deck, a company that covertly employs O-Gene users to hold the Noise—extra-dimensional invaders—at bay. That's also the version of this 'verse that deals with **Neku and Co**.

The **J0KERverse** is basically **Deckverse** plus **Original Characters** found in other **TWEWY fics**. For this particular entry, we saw **Leo Parker** and **Neliel Reagan** , residents of **Hyoxjnn** 's _**X Days**_ , **Suzu the Peacemaker/Median** from **Crow's Gamble** 's _**Choose the World You See**_ , and **Reiko Rikamizu** , the… mysterious person who plays **some sort of role** in **that one story** by the… **that one guy**. I think it's called "Hybrid::Mixed Emotions" or something. You'll have to ask Hyoxjnn, he'll know.

In addition to being a general exploration of J0KERverse characters, though, this anthology is also my entry into this year's **Twelve Shots of Summer** challenge. Working with the prompts "Approach" and "Down to the Foundation", I wanted to use approach in its sense of "methodology" rather than "coming". Leo and Reiko are both special because of how they handle situations, leading from the front, and generally being pretty down to earth. Or the foundation. You know, because that was the alternate prompt.

Finally, as for why I'm writing about Christmas in June, one of the possible achievements for the Twelve Shots of Summer challenge is to set all of your stories in a specific season. Since I'm a sucker for a good allusion (and I really wanted that "Twelve Shots of Winter" achievement), I chose "The Twelve DRAWs of Christmas" and went with it. Hopefully that joke at the end wasn't too shoehorned in.

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week for **02:Two Pair**. Until then!

-CG


	2. 02: Two Pair

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 02: Two Pair**

By Chronic Guardian

 _-Red J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #102: Conversation between members Nine and Two as follows:_

"Afternoon, Collin."

"Mmm? Oh, hey Rue-kun. What's up?"

"Just conducting a little investigation."

"On Christmas Eve?"

"Someone's been naughty. You wouldn't happen to be tracking the leader boards on _Chronos' Vanguard_ , would you?"

"Oh, come on. That's out of my hands now. I made that game for the normal Deck guys. We don't have enough active players in J0KER to get any really good matches going. Sure would be cool to see it in action, though… I just need to finish tweaking the AI and—"

"You know, just because you created the game doesn't give you the right to interfere with it."

"Interfere? I have no idea what you're talking about, Rue-kun."

"So a certain Deuce of Hearts really is playing? My, that must be quite a feat. Especially considering his network credentials say his CARD was transmitting from his bedroom while he was blowing off steam in training simulator. Maybe he got a bot to play _CV_ for him while he was away? Although I can't imagine why. Games like that never were his thing."

"Huh… I, um… guess I'll have to look into that. Maybe it was a hack? I mean, we know the Noise can breach the network occasionally—"

"Specifically so they can beat us at a social strategy game? Oh, yes, everyone knows the Noise just _love_ using their powers to mess up the leader boards. That kind of tomfoolery will have Deck on its knees in no time."

"Who is leading, by the way?"

"Do I _need_ to make it obvious?"

"So… Josh, then?"

"Yes, 'Josh'. Or so they say."

"And you say it doesn't add up because he was away from his CARD at the time of transmission."

"Yes, which certainly seems to point to a certain somebody being involved."

"Uh… The Director?"

"I know what your O-Ability is, Collin, I'm not dumb. You've got a CARD or six under your control, last I checked. If you really are curious, I suggest you use the one legally assigned to you to investigate."

"That's… a little harsh."

"...You're right. I apologize."

"Apology accepted!"

"But someone really is screwing up everyone else's game, and I pray for your sake that it isn't you."

"Of course not, that would be suicide!"

"All for the glorious cause of testing your creation though, right?"

"C'mon Rue-kun, it wasn't me!"

"Care to explain why you're hiding out here, then?"

"I think better with a car over my head. Besides, the it's been a while since I cleaned the old girl out."

"Your hands are remarkably clean, if that's the case."

"Uh, hello? Gloves?"

"Right… well, take care of yourself, Collin. And look into this, would you?"

"Yeah, sure. I mean, _you're_ obviously too busy for it."

"I have an… escapade with Amber that I have to attend. You know I hate to disappoint a lady."

"You hate to disappoint _that_ lady. You're pretty indiscriminate with the rest of 'em."

"We can't all be people-pleasers like you, Mr. Graves."

"Of course not, some of us actually need to have personalities."

"I didn't mean it that way, you know."

"...Yeah, alright. I'll take care of it, Rue."

"Thank you, Collin."

"Just… one more thing."

"Could you make it quick?"  
"Why did you drop the accusation so quickly just now? Why were you so convinced I did it?"

"I'm still not entirely convinced you didn't."

"So then why trust me with the case?"  
"Because if it was you, you'll be walking right into my trap. You're a decent imitator, Collin, but you've never been good with a spotlight on your back."

"Yeesh, you do pretty convincing imitation of that Josh kid yourself, you know that?"

"Who knows? We could even be related."

"Yeah… I don't even want to think about that."

"Will that be all then?"  
"Yeah, go have fun, kid."

"Thank you, Collin. I intend to."

 _-Close(DRAW#102)-_

The base alarm for _Chronos' Vanguard_ sounded suspiciously similar to an egg timer, as if cheerfully alerting the King of Spades that his goose was about to be cooked.

Unfortunately for the timer, the King had other plans.

Spinning his avatar around, the Blue Regent quickly took aim at the grunt units swarming his base and set his mouth in a determined frown. Quirking a not-particularly-amused eyebrow, he addressed the screen.

"You want some of this?"

 **Neku Sakuraba – King of Spades**

The approaching mob rolled up into the breach like a living tumbleweed about to descend into no-man's land. Neku decided to do it a favor and end things quickly.

" _Sparkcore!_ "

As a Deck exclusive, the _Chronos Vanguard_ was programmed to mimic the real world combat abilities of its players, allowing Neku to carry over his lightning O-Ability. Responding to the command, a ball of electric energy formed in the enemy cluster's center. The formation burst open like an overripe cantaloupe and spilled its routed contents on the outer buffer zone of Neku's base. Moments later, the attackers evaporated into a rainbow of stylized smoke and reward tallies. Neku allowed himself a small, appreciative smile at the aesthetic touch before going back to managing his resources and building his base. The attacks were getting fiercer with every wave, but he wouldn't mount a counter offensive just yet. It was his personal policy in games to never strike until he was absolutely sure he would crush the enemy opposition. Overkill? Yes. But oh so gratifying. Besides, it was one luxury he couldn't afford when lives were on the line. It was nice to kick back once in a while.

Even if he was technically getting his ass handed to him.

"Heh." Behind Neku, leaning on the back rest of the base's living couch, his downed wingman gave a singular chuckle before straightening up. "You gonna sit there all day, Boss? Aint'cha got people to see and stuff to do?"

 **Sota – Jack of Spades**

Neku looked away from the screen to give the tall man standing over him a bland look. "Yeah, sounds great. I'll rush in and get smashed like you did."

"Yeah, yeah," Sota chuckled, waving the derisive comment off. "I held 'em back when it counted, didn't I?"

"Mmhmm," Neku returned dryly. "'Die a hero, or live long enough to actually finish what you friggin' started.' That's how the saying goes, right?"

Sota scratched at his mid-length shag and shrugged."Something like that."

A beat of silence followed. Neku had enough resources now to consider rebuilding the wall, but focusing there would seriously cramp his other growth efforts. Not to mention that his opponent had been methodically probing around the base for a weak spot. Every time Neku moved to patch one leak, another sprung up on the opposite side of camp.

He had just decided to go through with the repairs when, predictably, the egg-timer alarm went off.

Sota shook his head and started for the doorway. "Tell me how it goes, Boss," he said, throwing a wave over his shoulder."

"Not sticking around to watch me suffer?"

"Naw dawg, got a date with Nao. Christmas Eve, y'know? Gotta keep my lady happy."

Neku sighed. "Sure, whatever." He would probably head home after this himself. He actually hadn't intended to play _Chronos' Vanguard_ today. He was usually alright at the game, but he played it more as a sign of social solidarity with his Suit. Ironically, the rest of his Suit had been wiped out in the day's tournament and now it was just Neku representing Spades.

 _Yep._ In the privacy of the Spades' Base living room, Neku let out a crude snort. _Lucky me._

It wasn't entirely his teammates' fault. Last he checked, Clubs and Diamonds were in similar situations, although part of that was Clubs members going AFK to chase after their cat again. In fact, the only real contenders left on the field belonged to Hearts; namely their Two.

"Joshua," Neku muttered to himself. The 'Deuce' of Hearts and Deck's resident problem child. Nobody pegged Josh for a _Vanguard_ player, much less a master at it. That was part of why Neku was alone now. Almost every confirmed player kill of the round belonged to Josh. He'd broken the serious opposition when he took out the more daring players. Now he was toying with his food before the kill.

Well, Neku wasn't about to make it easy for him.

Finishing up the latest breach, Neku collected the rewards and went back to rebuilding his base. Technically speaking, his strategy was more to bait Josh into attacking than striking out into the unknown. Neku's playstyle tended towards tactical turtling, hunkering down and waiting for his opponents to fall into his trap. Until he had the coveted mobile fortress up and running, he wouldn't be going anywhere.

A message flashed across the screen. _*Warning! Resource pools low*_

Neku paused as he realized the seemingly inexhaustible supplies he'd built his base around had all gone into maintaining the walls.

"...Crap."

He pulled up a diplomacy tab and looked at the other players still active in the game. Most of the screen names he didn't recognize. The one Clubs player left on the field was currently under siege, judging by his rapidly declining score sheet. If that player went down, Neku's only chance would be to sneak in an attack before the enemy could regroup. But Joshua was probably expecting that. The smug little snot wasn't much of a gamer, but he sure as hell knew how to read and anticipate people. Even in Hearts, "The Masters of Manipulation," he was a rare gem, partly because he wasn't afraid to use his abilities on fellow Deck members. Neku imagined a perfectly self-satisfied smirk spreading across the other boy's face as he orchestrated digital genocide from a pillow throne.

"Not today," Neku muttered to himself. So maybe Joshua knew he'd be coming; the guy probably even knew exactly what units and abilities Neku chose. That didn't matter. Neku still had to try.

Grimly rounding up his troops and funneling them through the latest breach, Neku pulled up the current map's schematic and began tracing a route through the potential base locations for Heart's quadrant of the area. Which one was Josh? Neku glared at the screen name on the scoreboard. "Composer." _Conceited, much?_

Just beneath Joshua, the Clubs player flickered, then went dark. There were fewer names from Hearts on the board though, so apparently he'd taken a few of them down with him. The Diamonds were now completely blacked out, leaving the final showdown between Hearts and Spades. Neku sighed and did one last visual overview of his unfinished army. _It's gonna take a miracle to win at this point…_

Slowly lowering a single commanding finger towards the screen, Neku was interrupted by another in-game message.

* _Available Game Partner Detected! Do You Wish to Pact?_ *

Neku paused, frowned, then double checked the scoreboard. Someone new had joined the match, someone without a Suit tag. The name wasn't familiar, and Neku already wasn't much of a social butterfly. _Revenant-See-Gee,_ he pronounced in his head, looking for some sort of clue to the user's identity. Deck members pretty commonly employed wordplay for their screen names. Still no luck.

Maybe this was his dad's idea of introducing a blind date. Neku wouldn't put it past the man to use his CAT connections to set something up. Naturally, though, it would have to be someone else within Deck. Even Kyohei Sakuraba knew to keep secrets about that.

What was Shiki's screen name again?

Noticing a new group was edging into his radius, Neku pushed the thought down and tapped the accept button. In a best case scenario he'd just acquired a reliable partner, worst case: a tactical diversion. He'd make it work. He wasn't a King for nothing.

Immediately, new message scrolled across the top of the screen.

[Thanks, kid! Now, let's get down to business, eh?]

"Kid?" Neku narrowed his eyes as the other player's avatar showed up on the map and threw an enthusiastic wave emote. Maybe he'd underestimated the worst case scenario…

-J-

Collin Graves was the sort of man who liked to watch life unfold better than he liked the actual living it out part. He lived and worked behind the scenes, watching with a worm's-eye view as he laid the framework for the Deck members above him. He studied them devotedly. He knew Neku from his search habits and CARD usage just as well as he knew Mr. Omura, the communications director at CAT.

And yet, Collin still felt like a complete stranger to be meeting the boy for the first time.

It was a digital encounter, naturally. The Joshua imposter had somehow gotten a lock on the system and now resetting the game entailed completing the current session. Collin tried to get around it with an appeal to his man on the inside, a digital imprint of himself left running the system, but none of his requests were getting through to the server. For better or worse, that meant that Collin finally got to play _Chronos' Vanguard_. By the time he arrived, Neku was the only non-allied player left standing.

Collin tried not to draw attention to himself. He used a nondescript avatar with button eyes and a plain tunic. Playing without advanced gear would be difficult but doable. He'd designed _Chronos Vanguard_ to balance inherent stats with pure skill. The important thing was that Neku didn't get distracted.

Of course… they didn't have to meet. Collin could just as easily alter the code to set him and Neku as allies without the King's consent. Heck, he could probably even follow along silently and let Neku soften up the rampaging rogue before stepping in to end things. That would probably be easier. Collin, however, was a man of principle, and for all the secret studying he did on the Deck members he balked at the idea of using them.

After securing the King of Spades' friendship—no, 'friendship' wasn't the word Neku would use. Allegiance, maybe? No, still too stiff. Cooperation! Yes, that was it—Collin set his Avatar to an auto-cautious behavior before resuming his dialogue with the mainframe. Rue was right, the Deuce of Hearts wasn't actually playing his CARD. The behavior data matched the Deuce almost perfectly, but that sort of thing could be emulated—notably, when the source intentional trained the imitator. Collin built a few emulator programs of his own recently. Unfortunately, unless Joshua was a natural born programmer, he wouldn't be able to pull off something like that. Sure, maybe he could copy and paste some code, but his CARD's activity and upload history said he didn't.

Unfortunately, the same could be said for most Deck members. Joshua wasn't known for being particularly diplomatic; the kid had no shortage of potential enemies looking to set him up. However, in a game like _Chronos' Vanguard_ where the players were usually divided by Suit, anyone who wasn't in Hearts would be shooting themselves in the foot by creating a cunning and merciless enemy player. For the Hearts members themselves, who often played damage control for the Deuce's antics, the action was equally counter intuitive.

 _So who, then?_

Collin rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked back to his CARD. Neku had replied.

[Please don't call me 'kid'.]

Collin closed his eyes and mentally berated himself. Not only was the speech quirk a piece of identity, it also grated on Neku's budding sense of adulthood. Without thinking too much, Collin hastily typed out a reply.

[You got it, Boss.]

Congratulating himself on the rapid recovery, Collin went back to the mainframe conversation. After a minute more with no luck, he gave it up and returned to the game. Better to resolve the current issue before worrying about the later details.

Besides, he had a partner to attend to.

-J-

Whoever he was, the Revenant was a reliable partner. He kept quiet after the first few sentences and pulled his weight in enemy encounters. After storming through a couple Hearts' bases with only minor losses, Neku was willing to let the gift horse get away without a look in the mouth.

Mostly, anyway.

Although he wasn't an expert on how the CARDs worked, Neku did enough homework to know that most of the Deck applications, including _Chronos'_ _Vanguard,_ ran on a virtual private network. That limited the digital traffic to insiders and, given Deck's cyber security budget, maybe a handful of the world's most talented hackers. And frankly, in Neku's opinion, breaking into a network just to play a game was a monumental waste of effort. That left insiders and talented hackers with terrible priorities.

Assuming it was an insider, though, Neku was beginning to suspect CAT. Not the most likely, but still a possibility. Omura and Iwata would probably pull the plug at this point, so it had to be someone with a sense of humor. Maybe…

[Hey Boss, incoming message from Hearts.]

Neku pressed his mouth into a firm line. _A taunt?_ Maybe. From what Neku knew, Joshua seemed like the gloating type. Except, the prime window for that would've been after mopping up Clubs. Now that Neku had staged a come back it would only make the other boy look desperate.

 _Maybe a plea bargain, then_. Still not something he could imagine Joshua doing, but he'd been surprised before. Besides, if Joshua got off on a surrender, that would mean robbing Neku of a deserving victory. He could play it off as _letting_ Neku win.

 _Yeah, fat chance I'll let that happen_. Neku narrowed his eyes to sharp slits and braced himself for the worst.

Except, the message wasn't from Joshua.

Apparently, the guy they were fighting wasn't Joshua either. At least, according to the messenger it wasn't.

[Help me stop it,] she pleaded. [Help me clear Josh's name.]

Neku pressed a hand to his forehead and grunted. _Well,_ that's _great_. So even if he won, it wouldn't be against Joshua.

Still, didn't change the fact that the guy needed to be stopped.

[You getting this?] he asked his partner.

[...Yep.]

[And?]

[I… think I know who it is.]

-J-

Collin hated the words the moment he flicked send. Neku didn't need to know that.

[I could be wrong,] he followed quickly. That was true, but unlikely, the evidence was too well coordinated to be a coincidence. The patterns were perfect, but there was only one person in Deck who would know enough to pull it off. And that one person happened to manage the network with a digital imprint of himself. To all appearances, Collin's digital imprint was playing _Chronos' Vanguard_ while using stored behavioral data to pose as Joshua.

Collin hoped very much that he was wrong.

[You still with me?] a message back from Neku stirred the Tech Officer back to reality.

"Right," Collin exhaled. It wasn't as bad as it could be. Technically, he'd already established himself as a satellite employee for CAT. If it really came down to it, he could always point to that without revealing J0KER. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was that a copy of Collin's personality had utterly ruined a perfectly good game.

In other words, Collin had let them down.

 _But… I only wanted to play with them_.

The plea sounded even more hollow in his own mind. He'd spent hours coding the Uberkind program to match his traits and thought patterns. How could this digital monstrosity be anything other than a reflection of him?

 _You didn't want to play, you wanted to be recognized_.

Collin paused. Was that true? Was he just tired of being a little old Two in a Suit that didn't even exist on the books? He let out a humorless laugh. No wonder he always worked behind the scenes. If anyone really knew him, they'd never let him near their work.

Staring vacantly at his CARD, Collin numbly registered a new message.

[Do we go for it?]

Collin nodded once to himself before responding. [With you all the way, Boss.]

-J-

They found Joshua (or whoever was hiding behind the _Composer_ screen name) a little further into the base, just as he was finishing off his fellow Hearts' member.

[She… she set me as an enemy,] the Composer said. Neku could only assume he was trying to garner sympathy, a move that was unsettlingly unlike Josh. From what Neku knew of the guy, pity was the last thing he would ever want.

 _So it really isn't you_ , Neku noted to himself. _All the more reason not to hold back!_

He went in guns blazing. The Composer danced through the attacks like a human ribbon before planting his feet and sending out a counter attack.

" _Sparkcore!"_

Just like that, Neku watched his own attack mow through his remaining troops. He felt his mouth drop open.

"What?!"

" _Thunderbolt!_ "

Neku barely had time to move his character to the side as another of his signature moves manifested from Joshua's character.

 _At least now we have proof it was a system hack_ , he noted grimly, getting back into an offensive beat.

 _"_ _Drive Sync!"_

Without warning, the Composer froze. Neku took the opportunity to land a few solid hits before finding some cover. The return fire never came.

" _Data Purge!"_

The screen went white. For a second, Neku thought it was a system crash, but then it faded back to normal. Or… mostly normal. The Composer was gone.

And so was the Revenant.

As the screen flashed a congratulations message, Neku took a deep, cleansing breath and set his CARD down. He finished what he started, hadn't he?

 _So why… does it feel like I'm missing something?_

When Neku finally got up, he turned off the lights and went home.

-J-

"Hey, Rue. I finished the case."

"You don't seem very happy about it."

"Really? Well.. I mean… I did the important part. The game should be back to normal now."

"Have you tested it?"

"Not yet. I… I'll do it after Christmas."

"Good. It'd be a shame for you to work all the way through Christmas Eve."

"Heh. Yeah, well… I don't have anything better to do."

"If that's the case, would you mind giving Amber and me a lift?"

"What's the matter, run out of cab fare?"

"No, silly. It's just been an awfully long time since we've gotten to socialize off the job."

"You can socialize in a cab."

"With _you_ , Collin."

"...Oh."

"So, can we count on you?"  
"...Yeah, I'll be there."

"Good. Amber says you're always looking out for the rest of us, so it's about time somebody payed the favor back."

"She said that?"

"Yes. And you know how Amber gets, so no arguing."

"...Roger that, see you in a few."

"Looking forward to it, Collin."

-End[02]-

 **Author's Notes** :

So, in addition to being almost past due, this story is probably stepping over all sorts of rules left and right. I already broke a few of my personal tastes to get a more faithful sound out of Neku, but on top of that I had to write about Collin Graves and put him as a main character. This would be fine with any other OC, but with Collin it's committing the unforgivable taboo of having a self-insert as the main character and hanging out with canon characters for kicks and giggles. It's like… it just goes against my fan fiction sense of honor on so many levels. Unfortunately, it's the only story I could come up with for this week so… Yep. There it is.

Continuing on in the TsoS tradition, the prompts for this story were "Kamikaze" and "The Legacy Lives On." I feel like both show up in both a literal and extra-textual level (Such as the enduring legacy of Neku vs. Joshua and "Joshua" taking on the title of Composer), so feel free to jump off on your own bunny trails of what legacies are hidden in this story. Also, if you feel both prompts are totally absent, that's cool too. At least your read far enough to disagree, right?

Speaking of legacies though, this wouldn't be a proper legacy to **Amulet Misty's** ** _Deck 104_** without a thank you corner. One awesome round of applause to **LaughingBelle** and **FullMentalPanic** for reviewing the first chapter. Also, super special thanks to the TsoS Community and Forum in general. Check 'em out for some rollicking good times. And, of course, Thanks to **Misty** for letting me continue to work with an AU of her already incredible AU. I hope I did your Deckverse versions of the characters justice, Kid.

If I go any further I might miss the posting deadline, so I'll stop here. Next week we return to a lighter note with Kyasako in **03 – Three of a Kind** with the prompts "Through the Window" and "Black and White." See you then?

-CG


	3. 03: Three of a Kind

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 03: Three of a Kind**

By Chronic Guardian

 _-Red J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #103: Conversation between members Six and Five as follows:_

"Huh? Shuuito-kun? Hey!"

"Cease, saccharine siren. I possess a concupiscence for solitude _à la seconde_."

"Uh… Sack of… wha?"

"I lack longanimity for your inane persiflage. Have you no rendezvous with an importunate _raison d'etre_?"

"I… like, _really_ don't know what you're talking about, but have you seen Collin?"

"Mr. Graves is not my deportment, innominate tyke. Why not cogitate your CARD instead of berating me?"

"But that's like, totally the problem? I can't get my CARD to work so I was hoping he would fix it for me?"

"Unconditionally invalid without him, eh? As succoring as Mr. Graves must find your dependency, can you not relinquish his indulgence for one day of the year?"

"You mean Collin can't help me because it's Christmas Eve?"

"...To be overly asinine, yes; that's the quintessence of it."

"Well… okay. But, so then maybe you can help me? I'm gonna like, do some last minute shopping?"

"Incorrigible twitty! I t'would rather expire!"

"Oh, nononono, we're not getting anything expired. I don't think stores are allowed to sell it then. Plus… does candy ever expire?"

"Feh! Lackwit."

"...Okie-dokie, then. Guess it's up to me to do this. Like, super-thanks for the help, though! And totally have a Happy Christmas Eve, Shuuito-kun!"

 _-Close(DRAW#103)-_

 _Clack-a-clack-a-clack-a-clack_.

The satisfying sound of a well executed skipping streak rang down the MATH Tower hallways as a blonde tween continued on her merry way, pig tails bouncing to the beat. Catching sight of one of the security cameras, she grinned wide and flashed a three-finger "peace" sign.

 **Kyasako – Five of Red J0KER**

Turning into a slick cartwheel, the freshly designated Five landed with her hands in the air, beamed at the empty hallway, then went back to skipping.

A few skips later, she slowed to a stop and slumped her small shoulders. Despite the valiant effort, she still didn't feel the Christmas spirit yet. Something would have to be done.

"I know!" she declared, throwing a finger in the air. "We totally need, like, a soundtrack goin'! Hey, CARD!"

The CARD didn't answer. The CARD was dead. Because Collin was busy not fixing it.

Her painted pink lips squinched into a pout. _Ugh_.

Well, that wasn't about to stop her. "Ooooh!" she belted out, one foot lifted in a frozen walking pose while she tried to find her pitch. When she was satisfied, she started walking to the "following the leader" song with a few lyrical adjustments.

"We're gonna get some candy, some candy, some candy! We're gonna get some candy, to gift to all my peeps!"

Ah! Better! And so totes adorbs to boot! She reached the elevator and marched in place as she waited for the doors to open.

"We gotta bounce to _the_ street, to _the_ street, to _the_ street! We gotta bounce to _the_ street, to check on all the deets!"

Perfect! She was like, a natural at this! Stepping inside, she punched in the ground floor button and let out a few "Tee-dum tee-dees" to fill in the chorus. By the time the doors opened again, she was ready for verse three.

"Prolly need help bee-tee-dubs, bee-tee-dubs, bee-teeee-dubs. Prolly need help bee tee dubs, cuz—"

"Yo, Sprinkle Stack!"

Kyasako stopped in place and quietly finished, "then it's lots more fun." Who the heck had just super rudely interrupted? Putting on an upset frown, she turned to locate the shouting.

She almost got a faceful of bicep as two arms twined around her and pulled her into a solid hug.

"Gek!?"

Her captor, a man with short blond hair and a six-studded patch covering the left side of his face, set her back at arms length so they could look at eachother. He grinned and thumped her shoulder.

"Miss me much, Cake Muncher?"

 **Daisuke Bito – Jack** **of Black J0KER**

"Mr. Dice Beater?" Kya gasped, refilling her lungs. "Heeey, like, dude! When did you get back?"

"Eh? Like, two sniffs and potwash ago," the legendary senior member estimated. He sagely stroked his chin and nodded in approval of the concise wording. As a longtime J0KER with nearly three decades of experience, the guy's creativity had kept its shape pretty well over the years. "Anyway, heard you hollerin' 'bout helpin' or whatever?"

"Oh! Oh-oh-oh-oh!" Kyasako excitedly clenched her hands into fists and bounced in place. "That would be like, totally perfect if you came and helped me out! Especially cuz I'm like… not 'technically' authorized to hit the street alone?" She encased the term with air quotes and a "whatever, you know what I mean" smile. "Plus, you could like, go shopping for yourself? Not sure if they had gift shops where you trained, but my city is like, shop-central. Gotta pick up something for the peeps, amirite?"

Daisuke's confident smirk sagged a little.

"Uh… hey Dai?"

"Chill. I'm fine," he asserted, pasting back on his previous expression as he straightened to his full height. "I just… uh… I remembered that techno-cracker-punk ain't updated my city pass yet, so I'mma prolly not that great at getting' us streetside."

"Hmm..." Kya went flamingo and balanced on one leg as she tapped her chin in concentration. "So like..." She wobbled, windmilled her arms, and planted both feet back on the ground before putting her hands on her hips. "We need one more person? What about..."

 **-J-**

"So you're pretty desperate."

The words came before Kya had a chance to speak. Then again, the speaker had a habit of getting right to the heart of the matter.

It helped that he was a mind reader.

 **Ayumu – Jack of Red J0KER**

"Yo Can Kicker!" Dai spat out indignantly. "Whatchu even—?!"

Ayumu tapped at the wavy golden hair covering his forehead (and, well, most of his face, actually). "I'm sorry, Mr. Bito. Did you want to do this the hard way?"

"Uh… try the _normal_ way, Patty Whacker."

"Fine," Ayumu sighed and began playing with one of his golden locks. "Trying this again?"

"Oh, no Ayu-kun," Kya waved her hands in front of her. "You don't need to—"

"Oh _hi_ Kyasako and Mr. Bito," Ayumu cut in with mock surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there! Oh _wait_..."

"..."

Kya gave Dai a tilted look and wondered what they were waiting for.

"It was a joke," Ayumu explained after a moment. Then, after a moment more, "Because I wouldn't see you anyways."

"Oh!" Kya slapped both hands to her cheeks as she got what he was saying. "You mean, cuz you're like, blind!"

"Yes, Kya. 'cuz I'm like blind'," Ayumu said blandly, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. "But that doesn't change the fact that I have a city-access CARD, a clear afternoon, and two delinquents to look after."

"Yeah, that's cute, Hamper Camper," Dai growled, crossing his arms. "But my peach-slice here gots a mission to complete, so those two delinquents are gonna have to cancel!"

Ayumu frowned and almost looked like he was going to say something before he sighed and gave a shrug. "Sure, that works."

"Good!" Dai gave a firm nod of approval. Turning back towards the elevators, he thumped a reassuring hand on Kya's shoulder before setting off again at a brisk swagger.

Ayumu pursed his lips. "He's really something, isn't he?"

"He's a J0KER," Kya giggled. "Same as us."

"Hey, bread boxers!" Dai had one foot in the elevator and was leaning back to glare at them with his good eye. "You comin' or what?"

"Sure, sure, don't rush me," Ayumu called back, approaching at a leisurely pace. "I _am_ the one with the access CARD, you know."

"Yep!" Kya clasped her hands behind her back and beamed at the older man. "You gotta play nice, 'kay Mr. Dice?"

"I'mma show _you_ nice..." Dai grumbled, holding open the door until they were all boarded.

Kya wasn't sure what he meant by that, but the important thing was that he left Ayumu alone. Dai was a good guy, but that didn't mean he wasn't rough around the edges. He was like a grumpy old cat wrapped in sandpaper: once you peeled off the casing, there was still a soft tummy to rub. And Kyasako fancied herself a world-class tummy-rubber.

Soon they were on their way back down to street level. Kyasako happily hummed a victory tune and Dai tapped out an accompanying beat with his foot. Ayumu settled himself in the corner of the elevator and played with a black and white _yin-yang_ pendant hanging around his neck.

Dai grunted and inclined his chin in the blind blond's direction. "Inner peace, huh?"

"Something like that,"Ayumu murmured back. His fingers didn't stop.

Kya stopped mid hum. "Is that what it's supposed to mean? I always thought it was, like, some kinda mocha thing? Like, you know how they do leaves 'n flowers 'n stuff? I thiiink they do it with milk, but I could be totally wrong."

This time Ayumu did pause. "You thought my pendent was about coffee?" He sounded surprised. Kya couldn't remember if that had ever actually happened before.

"Uh… yeah, what?" Dai said slowly, an uncomfortable grimace spreading across his face. "Hate to be _that_ guy, Sugar Tank, but Goldi-Prince gots a point. How in hashbrats does that look like coffee?"

Kya pressed her lips together and took a moment to look between her two escorts. At length she replied, "Who doesn't like mochas?"

"You know, Kyasako," Ayumu sounded tired, but Kya was sure she heard a hint of a smile in there. "You've got a logic all your own."

"Oh, like, thanks thanks!" Kya chirped, nodding as she accepted what seemed like a compliment. "But like, why are you surprised? That's for totally sure how all J0KER works, right Jacky-man?"

"No, Kya," he replied firmly. His voice sounded different now, like he'd just stopped caring about what she thought. "You're different."

"Oh..."

Dai grunted and looked at the ceiling. Kya tried to catch his eyes, but the best she could do was his square chin. _...Aren't you gonna say anything?_ she pleaded silently.

The rest of the ride down was silent.

 **-J-**

"Hey, Kya?" Ayumu spoke up abruptly as they exited the J0KER headquarters and stepped out onto the street. The rest of the ride down had been silent.

The girl flinched in place, blinked, and finally refocused on the boy in front of her. "Oh! Uh… yeah! What's up, Ayu-kun?"

He stopped and sighed at the ground. "...Could you not call me that?"

"Oh!" Well, that was an easy one. She probably should have seen it coming, to be honest. Ayumu was almost sixteen. Plus, he was totally a Jack! He was probably tired of the whole diminuitive thing. "Sure, Ayu-san!"

 _Whew!_ With the major conflict dealt with, Kya felt herself lighten back up to her normal sunny mood. Feeling particularly confident, she grabbed for Ayumu's hand as she passed so she could swing it as they walked.

She missed.

"That's not what I meant," Ayumu pressed. "I meant—"

"—Well maybe you shoulda said somethin', Bean Sprout," Dai cut in bobbing his head from side to side mockingly. "Ain't Jelly-Squirt's problem that we ain't mind readers like you."

"I was getting to that, thank you," Ayumu said with strained patience. "Anyway, what I _meant_ was, don't call me 'Ayu'."

"Oh! Ayu-s—ah!?" Kya caught herself just in time and gave a distressed squeak. Unfortunately, that left her stranded right where she didn't want to be in the sentence. She had to finish this somehow."…mu-s-sama?"

 _Totally nailed it._

"It's… a start."

They made it a few steps further before Dai burst out again. "Hey, Cabbage Snatch."

"Yes, it was worth it," Ayumu murmured back to the older man without turning around. "And no, I'm not trying to be a wet blanket. It's just..."  
"What? 'Ayu's a girl's name?"

"...Yes, that."

Dai stuck a tongue in his cheek as his head bobbed in understanding."A'ight, I gots it. Same for me, actually."

"Whaaaat? Pfffff." Kya pushed out the skeptical air with the best mood she could muster. "Daisuke's like, the manliest name ever! How could you—?"

"Not when they shorten it to 'Suke'," Dai rumbled, looking away so his patch eye faced them.

"Hey, it could be worse!"

"Yeah, at least you have a last name," Ayumu added, tugging at a hair tip as he continued on in front of them.

Dai screwed his mouth up into a scowl as he flushed red. "Look, Rash Bunker, that don't mean a thing when—"

"When you don't have anyone to share it with. I know..." Ayumu sighed and kicked at the ground a little. "For us Blanks, it's just assumed we don't have a family. For you, you actually..." He trailed off and shook his head.

"Forget it."

"What?! You think I can't take it, yo?!"

"No, just… I shouldn't bring that up. We all wish we had families. Especially at Christmas."

The words felt heavy to Kya. She didn't like that. Heavy stuff usually meant being sad, and this _totally_ wasn't the time of year for that. She puffed her cheeks at them and headed off towards the nearest store.

Pressing her hands on the glass, Kya peered in through the window at the items on sale. The building was, coincidentally, a confectioners shop. Traditional rice candies sat side by side with nut-filled fudge and saltwater taffy. Kya worked her jaw a little, imagining a sweet piece of blue raspberry taffy slowly dissolving as she chewed it.

"What else you got, Mr. Candy-man?" She murmured to herself, shifting her gaze further inside.

Standing in front of the caramel section, she saw a tall boy with shades on his head and a totally awesome biker vest. He gave off a calm, reassuring aura, like no matter what happened he'd take care of everything. There was a girl with him, happily shoveling sweets into a bag he was holding. She beamed up at him and they kissed.

Kyasako cooed with pleasure.

The girl was beautiful. She looked like the sort of person Kya wanted to be: perky, funny. The guy laughed at something she said. They both laughed. Kya gave her own chuckle that got lost in the glass.

As they headed for the counter, Kya imagined herself between them. As their sister, their child. A part of the family. She felt their warmth as they shared a smile.

A moment later, Kya tasted salt. She told herself she was imagining the taffy.

 **-J-**

Dai and Ayumu eventually caught up with her. They didn't seem like they were fighting anymore, so that was good. Together, they set off for the first stop on Kya's list.

And yet… she didn't feel happy.

"Hey," Ayumu touched her arm. She looked over to see he was tilting his head at her. "Are you okay?"

Kya blinked at him for a moment before she halfheartedly blew at her bangs and started walking again. "Why ask? Can't you like, mind read?"

"If felt like you wanted to be ask."

"…Heheh," she grinned to herself and wiped at her eyes. "It's… weird to have you worried about me, Ayu-ku—"

She stopped herself and looked at him again, hoping he somehow hadn't heard that.

 _Of course he heard, you little screwup_. Little nobody, little _Blank_.

Ayumu kept his face calm and changed the subject. "You want a piggy back ride?"

Kya felt her eyebrows go up in confusion. "Wha…?"

"Not on me, of course," Ayumu went on, shrugging his shoulders. He was bigger than Kya, but not by a whole lot.

"Oh!" Kya shifted her eyes to Dai, keeping pace beside Ayumu. "W-would that be—?"

"Sure, sure, Peach-slice," Dai rumbled. "It's all good. Yo, Goldi-Prince. Can you give her a boost?"  
They all stopped for a moment to get Kya situated on Dai's felt like being five again. Kya thought of shows she'd seen where daughters rode on their dads' backs. She wasn't exactly five any more, but her heart still fluttered excitedly as Dai rose up to his feet and they started off down the street again. Ayumu followed behind so he could catch her if she lost her balance. People stared. It was magical.

"Hey, Mr. Bito?" She whispered, hunching down over his head.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you. I… I really needed that."

"J0KERs stick together, kid. We're a team."

"Well..."

"More than a team," Ayumu chimed in from behind. "We're a family."

"Y'know, Goldi-Prince, I like the sound of that."

"Thank you, Mr. Bito. I like it too."

 **-End[03]-**


	4. 04: Fourth Round, No Pass

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 04: Fourth Round, No Pass**

By Chronic Guardian

 _-Red J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #104: Conversation between members Six and Eight of Black J0KER as follows:_

"Mr. Shuito?"

"Mr. Tezano. Feeling solicitous?"

"Are you feeling alright? It's freezing in here."

"I'm as virile as ever, _merci_."

"Cold doesn't bother you?"

"I've matriculated to the condition. Not that I've had a choice."

"Matriculated..."

"Need I catechize you in my lexicon?"

"Perhaps... another time, Mr. Shuito. For now, let's leave it at, 'care to join us in the dining hall?' Mrs. Tajima is putting a party together."

"And why should I be inspirited with your platitudinus machinations?"

"...It was only an offer. You don't have to come if you're not feeling up to it."

"Fascinating. Well, if I truly may opine my social topography without retribution, then I think I'll remain fastidious in my inquisition."

"..."

"Is there some spare message you must further convey? Why do you tarry?"

"It's nothing. Just… try not to stay in your room all day."

"Oh, certainly dear patriarch. Thank you ever so much for allowing me the asylum of your incessant prying. Will that be all?"

"...Yes, Mr. Shuito. That will be all for now."

-Close(DRAW#104)-

The door closed with a hushed hydraulic hiss as Black Eight retreated to safety. The room's remaining occupant watched a moment longer, as if expecting a sudden reprisal, before turning back to the work at his desk.

 _Veraciously, it may be a punctilious summation,_ he noted with a frown. _Tis' better to sustain animation in the self-set hyperborean than suffer the scorn of others_.

 **Izo Shuito – Six of Red J0KER**

To be fair, he'd only brought the temperature down to keep his CARD from overheating. Once he realized he could overclock the search processor and still avoid overheating, he abused the trick incessantly.

The downside was that it turned his room into a freezer.

 _Feh, a livable consequence._ Comfort was a cheap commodity when it came down to it. What did it matter so long as he got something worthwhile in return?

Names and faces scrolled through his CARD's display at a dizzying rate. None of them perfectly matched what he was looking for.

None of them matched him.

The fervent search came to an abrupt halt. Izo stared numbly at the display, trying to make sense of the current entries, before the cause for the delay made itself apparent. A message flashed: [Incoming Call from: "The Big Tyke" Accept?]

By the time the ringtone crescendoed into audible existence, Izo had already declined.

 _Of course she would impede my aspirations,_ he thought grimly, brushing his blue bangs back as the search engine resumed. Rei, his foster sister, had a bad habit for butting in when the moment was actively not calling for it. Even after he moved out and joined Deck, she still found a way to stick to him like a spilled mess of maple syrup that just wouldn't wash off. Izo had talked to Collin, the Deck tech support specialist, about getting her number blocked. In what Izo saw as a thinly veiled insult, Collin had yet to comply.

 _Why the sustained engrossment? We're not genetically concomitant,_ he scoffed. Even if they'd grown up together, that didn't give her the right to claim kinship. In fact, most of their time as adolescents had been spent butting heads.

The problem was, she probably didn't see it that way.

Rei, despite her short attention span, bombastic personality, and uncanny love for everything Izo hated, had good intentions. Extremely lacking in the results department, true, but she usually meant well. She was troubling but not necessarily trouble-loving. Izo hated that about her. In a way, it would have been easier if she were out to ruin his life. At least then he'd have an indisputable reason to avoid her.

Izo scowled and leaned over to rest his elbows on the desk. His warm breath formed a temporary cloud over the CARD and he imagined for a moment it had stopped again.

Then the puff dissipated and the image remained.

 _...Or maybe I'm not falsely envisaging the consummation._

Shifting in his seat, he scrolled through the highlighted file's information.

[ID: M1520H5R]

[Name: Izoruda Keiburen]

[Gender: Female]

[Status: Deceased]

[Born: February 19th, 2058]

[Died: June 19th, 2096]

[Surviving Immediate Family: N/A]

Izo rolled his eyes at the last bit. Of _course_ the most vital piece of information would be missing. Still, he'd been searching based on genome, so this woman was at least more genetically similar to him than the other candidates. A picture accompanied the file. Izo squinted at it and moved to request an enhancement. Just as he was about to press it, a new message popped up.

[Incoming Call from: "The Big Tyke" Accept?]

As his brain registered what was happening, his finger pushed the "accept" button now covering up the picture.

 _"_ _Ha! Knew it would work eventually!"_ Rei's voice crowed over the line. " _Merry Christmas Eve, Fos-Bro! Watcha—?"_

Izo ground his thumb into the "end call" button and kept it there, as if expecting the conversation would spontaneously spring back to life otherwise. Rei was probably running her mouth at a blank screen without even realizing it, but that didn't mean she wouldn't call back the moment she realized what was going on.

 _Which betokens that I should fixate and conclude my search before she tries again_ , he reminded himself. As satisfying as it was knowing he'd escaped another lecture on the importance of false family bonding, he had a past life to retrace.

He didn't fully understand the particulars, of course. Apparently he'd been mindwiped after a run in with the interdimensional monsters called the Noise, and he only knew that much because the insufferable Jack Ayumu told him so. The real question was why he didn't end up as a Blank after that. Sometimes, Izo wondered if that would have been a better way to go.

The Blanks were Noise orphans. Despite Deck's best efforts to clandestinely control the outbreak, every once in a while there were a few casualties in the civilian population. When those casualties left behind a child, Deck's standard protocol was to adopt the child as a Blank and raise them into the family business. Izo didn't remember anything before his encounter with the Noise eight years ago, but considering he was left with a foster family it seemed reasonable to assume his parents were dead. That didn't necessarily mean the Noise killed his parents, or even that Deck was involved, but it did leave a gaping hole in Izo's past that he'd previously pretended wasn't there.

Izoruda Keiburen's picture stared back at Izo like a mirror. Same deep maroon eyes, same narrow jawline. And yet, while his own lips deepened in a concentrated frown hers were upturned in a light smile, daring him to make the comparison.

A third call message appeared on the screen and he deftly disabled it. He wasn't in the mood for chatting.

Checking the DNA analysis again, Izo sighed and slumped forward onto his desk. It was a near perfect match and she didn't have any known siblings. Either she was his mother or this was a genetic freak convergence.

He gave a pathetic half chuckle. _As if these circumstances could be contrived…_

Still, even if Deck hadn't been involved in her death, there was a chance they had a case file on her.

 _"_ CARD," Izo muttered with his face still planted in the desk.

 _"_ _Your locution has been received, Master Shuito,"_ the device responded, mimicking a female voice as smooth and cool as fresh ice. At another time, he'd imagined his mother would sound similar.

"Begin perquisition for Izoruda Keiburen in the Deck databases."

" _Acknowledged. Transferring search data from Honshu census. Partial match available. Did you mean 'Izolda Kablen'?"_

Izo paused. The pronunciation sounded European.

"Acceptable," he responded after a moment, propping himself up to look at the screen. The same image of the woman with his features smiled back. He rubbed his cheek to ease some feeling back in. "Muster the connected files."

" _Acknowledged. Mustering expiditiously."_

Files began filling the screen. More files than an average civilian would warrant. Izo felt his stomach winding up for a back flop.

The titles were no more reassuring. [Record of Service], [Notable Casework], [Legacy Files]…

Izo sucked in a sharp breath and felt his fingers involuntarily freezing themselves to his chair arms. _At least this construes Deck's influence on my continuation in a more credible fashion,_ he noted numbly. After a few failed attempts to dislodge his hands from their self-made prisons, he gave another shaky vocal command.

"CARD… display [Legacy Files]."

The CARD highlighted the requested folder before giving an indignant beep. " _Current member controls only acquiesce partial access. Display regardless?"_

"Feh!" Izo spat. Of _course_ they would only give him partial access! Even after four successful missions, they were still reluctant to relinquish their bait.

Of course… partial access was better than nothing.

"… Open the file."

The display exploded into a web of documents; financial arrangements that were still incubating, forensically reconstructed scraps of a last-will-and-testament, and numerous links to other profiles that had either investigated her death or cleaned up the aftermath.

One of those profiles was named after Izo's foster father.

"Display [Genji Shuito]," he pronounced with slow conviction.

" _Acknowledged. Genji Shuito: Member of Tokyo child investigations and correspondent relations with Deck. Claimed custody of Izo Kablen as per Izolda's wishes after her demise. Husband to Etsu Shuito and father too—"_

"And... Izo Kablen?" Izo cut in anxiously. The name tasted uncomfortably familiar.

" _Izo Kablen: Son of Izolda and an unidentified INSTEP associate. Unregistered in national databank as per parents' wishes. Survived Noise encounter with significant injuries. Inherited Izolda's O-Gene potential. Reported by Genji Shuito to exhibit striking similarities to Izolda."_

"Explicate that datum."

" _Acknowledged. Notable areas include similar intelligence quotients, social impairments, and quote 'dynamic vocabulary'. Physical characteristics are also—"_

"CARD."  
 _"Your locution has been received, Master Shuito."_

 _"_ Display visual delineations of Izolda."

The current data stream sank into the background and a flim strip took its place. Izo watched as his mother moved through various security footage with his foster parents. She was usually in the back of the group, observing. Apparently she made a game of staring at security cameras to let them know she found them. Izo felt a brief swell of amusement at her audacity. She was calm, collected, poised, everything he imagined her to be.

And then he saw her with himself.

The experience jarred him. Despite her professionalism on the scene, she would always hold him close for pictures. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to mind. The younger version of himself would even occasionally smile. Izo felt his own face going blank as he traveled back through his past and felt a glimmer of the boy he used to be.

The pictures at the end of the collection involved the investigation. Izo saw himself small, crumpled, vulnerable, wrapped in a blanket and hugged by Etsu. Genji's calm, collected face just barely held back the turmoil in his eyes. Other images showed people Izo didn't fully recognize. He quietly skipped the documentation of his mother's body.

The last image showed both Shuitos leaving the scene with Izo between them.

Izo turned his CARD face down and closed his eyes. The ice around his hands had dissolved. He let out a shivering breath and suddenly realized how cold he felt.

For the fourth time, his card started ringing with an incoming call.

"...Accept," he murmured, leaning back in his chair.

Rei's voice came back. " _Heeey_ … _Fos-Bro?"_

"..." What was there to say? His mouth felt frozen dry. He tried to swallow.

" _Look_ … _I know you're excited to spend Christmas away from us for once but… I miss havin' you around. You can totally be a grouch sometimes, but I get it. I get that you've kinda had a hard life. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know the couch is open in case you feel like getting your butt kicked at Super Velocity Dash IV. Mom tries to play with me but she's not as good as you were. Plus, mom and dad miss you so—"_

"Cease," Izo commanded wearily, slowly straightening up in his chair. He rubbed the exhaustion from his face and took a deep breath. "Cease your ramblings, Tyke."

Rei paused for a moment before responding in an uncharacteristically cautious voice. " _Is that… is that a no?"_

"...I'll be there."

" _Woah! Really? Alri—! Wait,"_ she cut her jubilation short with a suspicious note. " _You're being serious, right Fos-Bro?"_

"Indubitably, Tyke."

" _Well, I'm just sayin'. I was thinking about how you've got everything you want now, and how it's probably pretty hard for you to come back to us when you're having such a good time, and—"_

"Dub it a change of climate," Izo interrupted. "I think I require somewhere more temperate."

" _Uh_ … _so someplace warm?"_

"That would be preferable, yes."

" _I can do that. I've already got the kotatsu warmed up, and mom's putting together some awesome soba. She says she misses you, by the way."_

 _"_ Hmph," Izo felt the smallest of smiles break his perpetual frown. "I miss her too."

 **-End[04]-**

Author's Notes:

Wow! What is this mess? Yet another attempt at emotional mushiness with themes of family and reaffirmed connection? It's like… there's a running theme here or something!

Either that or I'm going stale. Y'know, whichever.

Anyway, as this chapter focused on Izo Shuito (and related Shuitos) from EeveeGen9988's _A Fall into Honor_. The prompts, "Mother" and "To Only Start a Fire" were pretty interesting to weave into this guy's narrative because 1) he's extremely anti-social and 2) he's an ice-based elementalist. So… yeah. I hope this counts as an enjoyable bending of those themes, even if the second one is more metaphorical here.

On the note of Izolda Kablen, who is not from _A Fall into Honor_ , I was trying to find the name meaning for Izo and this one came up. Apparently Izolda means "Fighting the Ice Battle." Totally fitting, right? She may or may not appear in _From the Underground Up_ now that I've introduced her here but… well, we'll see. All depends on the timeline mechanics.

By this point, you've probably realized that the character's ranks don't line up with the chapters anymore. To explain, all the correlations are based on rankings from the original _Deck: J0KER_ , but at the end of that story it's heavily implied that a new shuffle is going to happen very soon. Hence, I feel like it would be lame if we got to this "two months later" story and the shuffle still hadn't happened. Just… Izo was originally a Four, I swear.

With that, I think it's about time for me to split. I have about seven days left until I finish my bachelor's degree and I am not about to let myself loose this Reaper's Game. Shout outs and thank yous to **Aviantei** for reviewing and **EeveeGen9988** for continuing to let me write about her characters. (Speaking of, Ayumu from the last chapter is also hers. Just… y'know, getting that out there).

In the meantime, why not check out the rest of Twelve Shots of Summer and see what they've brewed up this week? C'mon, you know you want to. ;)

See you next week for "Straight Flush", with the prompts "The One and Only" and "Maze Navigation." Hopefully Arisa doesn't get lost in her own vocabulary as she brings her unique gifts to bear on a certain twisted situation.

Until then,

-CG, out.


	5. 05: Straight Flush

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 05: Straight Flush**

By Chronic Guardian

 _-Black J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #105: Conversation between members Three and Four as follows:_

"A'ight… operation 'candy flush' is a go. You got the link up with Median?"

"You mean Suzu?"

"Aaah… c'mon Yuzuki. Would it kill ya to use the codename?"

"Heheh… then why don't you, Root?"

"Uh, hello? Watchu mean?"

"Well, _technically_ , I'm Origin. Because, you know, Yuzuki and Cato aren't allowed to enter the kitchen until New Years."

"Oh, riiight. Gotcha, Orgy."

"..."

"...Can we forget I said that?"

"This once, Root. Just this once."

"Y'know, it's not like I'm the only one who's ever fallen for that ever. Variable says weird crap all the time and you don't bat an eye at her!"

"Yeah, but Variable's kind of… variable."

"So she gets a pass because she's crazy?"

"She'd probably say 'genius', but yeah, pretty much."

"You're sure she'd keep it that short?"

"Okay, true, probably more like USMG."

"Us-mug… huh."

"Yeah, y'know? I should start using that. Show her up at her own game."

"Whoa, Origin! Savage!"

"Somebody has to do it, right?"

"Heh! I dig it."

"Good. Now let's go dig some Christmas goodies out of that kitchen. You with me?"

"Like Ol' Cap'n Crunchy used to say: Every origin's got a root!"

"Pretty sure he never said that."

"Okay, so _maybe_ I'm kinda paraphrasing a lil'. It's the point that matters, right?"

"Ha! Now you're speaking my language."

 _-Close(DRAW#105)-_

When J0KER agents weren't away on assignments, they generally took up residence in the MinamiMATH Tower. The thirteenth floor held most of the facilities while the fourteenth held the dorms. Despite Yuu Minamimoto's otherwise logical and clear design decisions on other floors, the blueprints for these two floors felt closer to a maze than business magnate's tower. "Makes it feel more like home, don't you think?" Director Minamimoto explained.

One member in particular absolutely loved it.

Peach hair tied back in a low pair of ponytails, the young woman darted her head out into the winding hall before slipping back into her room and taking a deep breath.

"Alright CARD… send the AC to the BJSF. Operation CF is a go."

 **Arisa "Alice" Yumekawa – Five of Black J0KER**

 _"_ _YWiMC, Alice-Sama,"_ the CARD replied. "Begin C&C protocols?"

"WEP," she grinned and nodded back. "LYRMM."

 _"_ _Leer-'em yourself,"_ a high voice whined back over the CARD. " _Like, who died and put_ you _in charge?"_

 **Natsumi/Mean – Two of Black J0KER**

"Uh, pretty sure WPaVTI." Arisa laughed back. To anyone else the string of letters was an opaque jumble of nonsense. To her, it was the natural progression of language.

" _I… don't know what that means, but we did vote here in,"_ another voice, chimed in. Median's smooth, calming tone did its best to douse the rising tensions. Too bad. Arisa kind of liked a challenge.

Still, it was nice to have someone on the same page. "Yeah, TWIS," Arisa affirmed.

"... _Twis?"_ Median asked after an awkward pause.

Arisa sighed. So much for the same page thing... "As in, 'that's what I said'?"

"Okay, seriously," another, lower voice muttered. "Can we just play this round vanilla?"

 **Cato/Root** – **Three of Black J0KER**

"Ohhhh?" Arisa drawled, unimpressed. "AWTSTM?"

"Okay, let me guess this one..." the final member of their squad chimed in. "Is it… AlWays Talking Smack To Me?"

 **Yuzuki/Origin – Four of Black J0KER**

"...Nice try, Yoyo," Arisa allowed, leaning back against her bedroom wall. At least the Four gave it a shot. More than Ari could say for the others. "The canon translation's 'And What's That Supposed To Mean'."

"You come up with that all on your own?" Root asked sarcastically.

"And are you mocking me, you LUTF?"

"Not to interrupt anything important," Median cut in before Root could figure out what LUTF stood for. "But we kind of need Miss Alice on our side if we're gonna pull this off."

Root muttered something incoherent before going silent.

"As for you, Miss Alice..." Median continued. Arisa rolled her eyes and tucked her knees into her chest. Even though they'd technically joined Deck at around the same time, Arisa still hated being lectured by the younger woman. "…could you try to speak a little more normal? It would sure help the operation go a lot smoother."

"Well, since you asked _nicely..._ " Arisa huffed. "IMNP, but I'll try."

"Great! Now do you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?" Mean gushed with exaggerated enthusiasm. "'Cuz if we're all done with the group counseling, it would be really nice if we could, I don't know, maybe start getting our hands on some goodies?"

"Yeah, yeah." Arisa lolled her head to one side and rubbed shins. Maybe it was her imagination, but the room felt colder than usual. She'd have to check the thermostat in a minute. In the meantime, she had a heist to coordinate.

"Starting from the top!" She held up one finger. "Mean? Get mean and start sucking up bandwidth. Social media searches, viral media downloads, high quality files, go nuts. We've gotta DDoS the network before Mr. Grumpy Graves realizes what's going on. Everyone else, switch to the backup channel."

"Viral media? Oh, what _ever_ , Variable," Mean giggled. "You're so old school!"

"I prefer 'unique', but I'll take it," Arisa said quickly before putting up a second finger and moving on. "Everyone still with me?"

"Yeah," Root answered. "And it's a _lot_ easier now that you don't speak gibberish."

Gibberish… that was a funny word for it. Sure, maybe it wasn't always the best thought out, but Arisa dreamed that her collection of acronyms would one day make up the essential building blocks of—

"Miss Alice? Did… did we switch to the wrong channel?"

"I'm fine," Arisa gritted out, deciding not to tell Median about the inner monologue she'd just interrupted. Speaking of Median though… "You're up next, Middle-Child," the peach-haired Five went on. "Where are you currently?"

"My room," Median replied obediently. "We all agreed to start in our respective dorms, didn't we?"

Root gave a huffing chuckle. "Well, technically I'm with Origin right now."

"Yeah, okay…" Arisa felt a tired smile tug at her lips as she shook her head. "You know guys aren't technically allowed in the girls' dorm, right?"

"Yup. And standard Black J0KERs ain't supposed to be sneaking into the kitchen to bag goodies."

Arisa paused and considered the point. "...Touche," she murmured after a moment. "Okay then, wise guy, stay where you're at and under no circumstances let anyone see you. Now, Median?"

"Uh, wait up. Question." Apparently Root wasn't done messing up Arisa's plans.

"I would use smaller words," The Five said dryly, trying to maintain her patience with humor. "But you didn't seem to like that so much earlier."

"I'm listening, Miss Alice."

"Right, right," Arisa sighed and nodded. "Root, I'll deal with you in a sec, 'kay? Median, I need you to do your imitation thing and fool the Uberkind program into giving us kitchen access. Usually Grumpy Graves has it locked up pretty tight, but if we could get it to think you're him—"

"Actually, not to interrupt," Median cut in softly, "But… the Uberkind program went offline just a little earlier today for unexplained maintenance."

Arisa stumbled to a soft, "Oh," before regaining her composure and organizing her thoughts. "Well, great, than use that imitation power to bypass the biometric locks on the kitchen and get Origin and Root in there. You'll all have to go together manually since the traditional network routes are down. Once you're in I need you to take over lookout duty."

"Huh?" Origin apparently had some sort of problem with the plan. Arisa bit her lip and closed her eyes. Whoop-dee-flippin'-do. Didn't any of these people know that she knew what she was doing at this point? "Wait, I thought I was on look out duty..."

"Congrats and condolences, Yoyo," Arisa deadpanned. "You're now helping Root grab the goods. Keep him focused, 'kay? Now, find your way to the elevators and get down there."

Dead silence ensued.

"Can I get a 'yes ma'am' on that?" the Five asked pointedly, giving her CARD a miffed look.

"With... all due respect, Miss Alice," Median began hesitantly. "We still don't really know our way around here yet."

"Big deal, use your..." Arisia trailed off as she remembered her orders to Mean. "...CARDS. Oops."

"I'm trying," Origin said. "Nothing so far."

 _Yeah, because Mean's using all the network resources_ , Arisa answered silently. She shivered and scooted herself up to a crouch. "No worries, team," she assured them. "I'll guide us to victory. Just meet in the hall and follow my directions."

All three of the remaining members gave a round of affirmations and soon Median reported their reunion.

"Okay, great, now head in the opposite direction of the bathrooms," Arisa instructed. "You should see some kind of picture on the wall. I think Kya drew it."

"Does it look like the candy man chucked his cookies?" Root asked after a few steps.

Arisa bobbed her head from side to side as she weighed the statement. "...More or less. Did you see something like that?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"Great, that mean's you've gone to far. Head back to where you saw that picture and take the door on the opposite wall. That should get you into a stairwell."

"Hey, Ari-san," Origin said slowly, "not to seem rude, but maybe you could come out here and show us what you mean?"

"No go, Yoyo," Arisa answered, flipping a hand through her bangs. "This is my home turf so I'm already a known suspect. Gotta keep my prints off the scene, you get me?"

"Pfff! Whatever," Root rejoined. "Ain't the old man got this place being recorded?"

"Don't worry about it," Arisa pressed. "Mean's jamming the network, remember?"

"Are you sure that's how this works, Miss Alice?"

"Sure as I'll ever be." She didn't actually do much behind the scenes with computers on a regular basis, but she was pretty sure they lost functionality once they lost signal.

Suddenly, Arisa wished the network wasn't tied up so she could search the question.

"Oh, hey! Found the stairs," Origin reported after a moment. "Now, up or down?"

Arisa spent the next half-hour guiding the group to the kitchen door. Median slipped them inside. As Red Queen Ayane's sacred domain in the winter season, the MATH Tower kitchen was a treasure trove of hallowed sweets and goodies unlike anything the imagination could conjure. In past years, Arisa had been caught red handed trying to get an early taste of the Queen's baked goods. Although Mr. Graves had supposedly installed counter measures specifically against her, she wasn't about to quit now. Especially now that it wasn't her sneaking in.

Arisa felt warmer already just thinking about it.

"Alright team," she breathed, giddy with excitement. They had this in the bag. It was a piece of fruitcake topped with candy-cane sprinkles. She was enjoying herself so much that she threw in an acronym just for old times' sake. "Ready to RtFCD?"

"What?" Root asked. "RtFC—"

" _Arisa Yumekawa speech pattern recognized,"_ a blaring robotic voice boomed over his protest. " _Now entering lockdown to detain accomplices until further notice_."

Arisa stared at the CARD screen. "How…?"

"Uh, maybe because only you would say something like that?"

"HCYST!?"

"..."

"Okay, point taken."

 **-End[05]-**

Author's Note:

Sooo… this was kind of like… not the best thought out because I was finishing up my last classes and dealing with a broken down car and… other things. In fact, it's probably one of the messiest and least organized stories you'll find in this collection. I originally played around with ideas of Arisa healing Radian, or even going on a shopping trip of her own, but ultimately this is what came out. Hopefully it wasn't too disappointing? That said, I still think it fulfilled the prompts of "Maze Navigation" (In navigating Arisa's vocabulary, navigating the building, and, in a very meta sense, navigating the thick cast of characters with only dialogue to work with) as well as "The One and Only" because… well, Arisa's pretty darn unique, no?

That might be narcissistic to say, though, seeing as Arisa's another one of my _From the Underground Up_ OCs. The rest of this story's cast, however, is drawn from **Crow's Gamble's** _Choose the World You See_. That's right, it's the Zetta Squad back in action! Or… some of them. Probably not the best adaption of these characters, especially considering this is the concept of them with their entry fees intact, but for the purposes of this story they do alright. Except maybe Origin.

Man, what did Origin really do, anyway?

Also, for those wondering, a straight flush is a poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit in order. Thus, because the Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six of Black J0KER were all in on this operation, it was a straight flush until they left behind the Two and it became a losing hand.

Anyway, yes. Sorry for the messiness. Things will get better. Next week we examine Getotsu with the themes of "Under a Clear Blue Sky" and "Tea Party" in **06:Six-Card Bonus**!

Finally, the small bonus of some additional entries to Arisa's acronym dictionary!

AC = All Clear

BJSF = Black J0KER's Straight Flush

CF = Candy Flush

YWiMC = Your wish is my command

C&C = Command and Conquer

WEP = With Extreme Prejudice

LYRMM = (? I… actually forget what this was meant to mean).

WPaVTI = We put a vote to it

TWIS = That's what I said

AWTSTM = And what's that supposed to mean

LUTF = Lame Uneducated Total Fool

IMNP = I Make No Promises

RtFCD = Rock the Final CountDown

HCYST = How could you say that


	6. 06: Six Card Bonus

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 06: Six Card Bonus**

By Chronic Guardian

 _-Black J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #106: Conversation between members Eight and Queen of Red J0KER as follows:_

"Ms. Tajima?"

"Hello Tezano. Mission complete?"

"Well, yes. About that, though—"

"Why do a walk about?"

"..."

"What?"

"Apologies. It's just… I thought you could only—"

"Read thoughts when touching?"

"...Yes."

"Well… directly, yes. This is more of an educated guess."

"Hmph. You wouldn't happen to be a psychology student, then?"

"I… unofficially, yes. I'd say more of a 'student in general' though. Understanding people is so much more than understanding their thoughts. For example—"

"...For example?"

"Sorry, I'm… wandering. You were about to ask why I asked you to walk around instead of send a CARD message."

"Yes."

"And I appreciate that you did. For starters, someone went and clogged up the network."

"Which you somehow foresaw without touching anyone."

"Again, educated guess. I thought Arisa might try something to get into the kitchen and I knew Collin was busy so—"

"Pardon. If you don't mind."

"Not at all. What is it?"

"These guesses seem very… educated."

"Comes with the territory. Some of my counterparts might disagree, but I think it's the Queen's job to watch the ranks, especially with Ms. Koizumi still..."

"...I see."

"Right. Anyway, I saw the pieces lining up and thought I'd pre-empt the maneuver. On the other hand though, it's also important for some of us to hear these things face to face. For all our technological advances, we still need the human element."

"I don't follow."

"Human interaction completes the picture, Tezano. There's the raw information, and then there's the interaction that makes it come alive. Half the cards are on the table and half are in your hand. Does that make sense?"

"To a degree, yes. But then… what does that have to do with this?"

"With going to personally invite people?"

"Yes, that. It didn't seem to work on Mr. Shuito."

"Hehehe, or did it?"

"He's not coming."

"He doesn't have to. You stirred something, opened a line of thought. That's all we needed. The point wasn't for Shuito to reach for us, I just wanted Shuito to reach for someone. It's Christmas; that's a bad time to be lonely."

"You seem just fine."

"Hmm?"

"Aren't you alone at the top?"

"Ah! Well, Ms. Rikamizu has been very helpful..."

"But she isn't Koizumi."

"Heh... And I thought I was hiding it pretty well. I guess this just proves my point, though. Interaction keeps us honest. It's… something we all need."

"Ms. Tajima?"

"I apologize if this is sudden, Mr. Tezano, but... could you run one last errand for me?"

"...Possibly."

"There's a girl Deck's been supporting. She survived a Noise attack last year but… well, she's having trouble with some of the consequences. She's pretty lonely now. We try to keep an eye on her under rehab pretenses. Just check in to make sure her life's getting back to normal and you should be fine."

"Rehab?"

"Like I said, there were consequences."

"Such as?"

"She lost her brother."

"Ah. And how does that—?"

"Talk to her and find out."

"…With all due respect, that seems awfully unproductive, Ms. Tajima. Couldn't you just tell me?"

"But that's the best part of it, Tezano. Getting someone to open up and lay their cards on the table before the game ends."

"To trick them, you mean?"

"Hmm? Oh, no! Not that. To trust them, and help them trust you back. We can never understand people unless we hope it's possible in the first place."

"Hope doesn't magically make it possible."

"I know, but it's a start."

"..."

"So… would you mind?"

"Where is she?"

"Not far. Here, I'll give you directions."

 _-Close(DRAW#106)-_

 **-J-**

Blueprints and images flashed into memory before fading back into the current scene. The sunken-eyed man shook his silver shag and put a hand to his forehead.

"Now you think it's convenient..."

 **Getotsu Tezano – Eight of Black J0KER**

Across from him, a young woman with long, dark hair gave an apologetic smile.

"It has its uses. I try not to over do it, though."

 **Ayane Tajima – Queen of Red J0KER**

"Besides, directions are different," she went on, reaching behind her head to tighten a ribbon bow. Her usual pinks had been switched out for a festive red set. The look matched well with her fur-lined velvet coat and skirt. Despite the other J0KER members' shenanigans, the Queen seemed determined to embody the Christmas spirit.

Getotsu glanced at his own field coat and combat slacks. Hardly befitting of rehab therapist. He'd have to change before heading out.

"How long do I have?" he asked, stepping back to let his mind settle into place. The Queen's ability to directly read and transfer mental information at a mere touch was impressive, but still a little disorienting. "Until the party," he added. With all the effort Tajima had put into organizing the event, it felt rude to miss it.

"Oh… a good hour or two," Tajima estimated. She crossed her arms and nodded her head as if to confirm the statement. "I'm still waiting on Ayumu to reign in Mr. Bito and Kyasako. Take your time. Ah! And one last thing."

Getotsu gave her an expectant look.

"I doubt I need to say it, but remember that Deck doesn't exist for the outside world. You'll be a representative of MinamiMATH Corp."

"Yes, I understand." He remembered signing a confidentiality statement when he joined. Still… he hadn't been expecting to infiltrate therapy sessions when that happened.

"Most importantly though," Tajima went on, "you'll be two people talking about life."

Getotsu nodded hesitantly and left to change. He still wasn't convinced about Tajima's decision to send him, but her record for uncanny guesses certainly helped float his faith on the argument.

If nothing else, he would be doing a favor for someone who had done more than her fair share of looking out for him. Tajima deserved a break. From that angle, he was happy to serve.

 **-J-**

Getotsu arrived back at his room and spent a good five minutes rummaging through the closet for something half presentable. He emerged with a dark brown dress shirt, black slacks, and paisley tie. Spraying a puff of emergency cologne on his wrists so he didn't smell like a freshly returned ranger covered in wilderness, he gave his ensemble a once over in the mirror and straightened his tie.

 _I could fool me, at least,_ he noted, giving himself a wry smile. Of course, that was an admittedly low standard. The patient knew what he was supposed to be like. What would she do if she found him out?

It couldn't be too bad. Tajima knew what she was doing, particularly with matters of Deck Security. She wouldn't hand him an assignment without training unless the risks were particularly low. Maybe it depended on the patient. What was she like, anyway?

Getotsu rolled his eyes back as he sifted through the transferred memories associated with Tajima's directions. He got the vague impression of youth. Did that mean she was impressionable? Maybe she wouldn't question him too much.

 _Well… No point in waiting._ He wasn't learning anything new hanging around the base. The only path forward was through the assignment. He gave himself one last look in the mirror before heading out the door. He rapped his knuckles twice on the frame as he passed and let the metallic clang follow him out.

 **-J-**

Nobody stopped him in the halls of the MATH Tower. Even with nearly everyone home, Getotsu still felt like a solitairy wraith moving through the wilderness. Tajima's directions led him outside and down the street about a block before he found a towering building emblazoned with a medical cross. The sign outside designated it as St. Peregrine's, but Getotsu knew the financial lines probably led back to MATH corp. As a financial singularity in Tokyo, MATH corp. had their fingers in a lot of pies, most of them humanitarian. More than that, though, the Director made a point of keeping all Noise incidents in house. Everyone who dealt with the aftermath was either on the payroll in some form.

Once inside, Getotsu only had to show his CARD. Apparently Tajima had messaged ahead to tell the staff the situation. They received him warmly and showed him to a room on the second floor. The furnishings were cozy, at least: two sofas separated by a coffee table, and beyond that a small balcony. A plastic plant in the corner gave a little bright green to contrast with the rooms otherwise muted tones. Overall, it felt very western. At least the tea set on the table was traditional…

Getotsu didn't have long to himself before the door opened again. He turned towards the sound on instinct and got his first good in-person look at the patient.

She was a teen. That could be a problem. Urban teens had a reputation for being contentious and cynical. She wore her peach blonde hair in a short, spiky style with her bangs sticking upright. Her face hadn't quite assumed adult definition yet, leaving her scowl plagued with child-like softness. She glared at him with smoldering ebony eyes and put a hand on her hip.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded. "Where's the usual lady?"

 _Well… aren't you charming_.

"Getotsu Tezano," the sunken-eyed man introduced himself, forcing on a quiet smile. "I'm standing in for Ms. Tajima today."

"Hmph," the girl rolled her eyes and rubbed under her nose. She wore elbow length black gloves buckled all the way up, probably as a fashion statement. Brushing past him, she sprawled on one of the sofas and looked to the balcony.

For a moment Getotsu just stood, silently observing her.

"And you are?" he pressed lightly.

She snorted at him. "What, they didn't send you my damn files?"

"No," Getotsu answered, wistfully following her gaze outside. How long would this little interview last, anyway? "They thought I should ask in person."

"Hmph," she grunted again and shifted to get more comfortable.

Apparently they were doing this the hard way.

"If you wouldn't mind—"

"Kitaoka," the girl said abruptly.

"Just Kitaoka?"

"To you? Hell yes."

Getotsu frowned. "Do you have to be so crude?"

"Why? Do you actually give a f—?"

"—Fantastic," he cut her off. "I suppose that answers that question."

"Oooh, let me guess," she muttered mockingly. "You're the kind of guy who hates it when kids swear. Well guess what? I'm not a damn kid, you bastard."

Getotsu bit his tongue and moved to the opposite sofa. Suddenly he wished she would go back to grunting. "Would you like some tea?" he offered, taking up the pot on the coffee table.

"Nope," she said without looking.

Getotsu shrugged and poured himself a cup. The smell of tart citrus steamed up into the air and Getotsu closed his eyes for a moment. "So, Kitaoka," he murmured. "Since I'm out of the loop, could you tell me a little about yourself?"

"Yeah," she barked a sarcastic laugh. "How about no?"

Getotsu sipped his tea and grimaced at the bitter woody undertones. The citrus was there, but it needed to be accented. He reached across the table for the sugar. "Alright then… how about I tell you about myself?" That seemed like a good idea. Tajima had said this was about building trust. Maybe Kitaoka just needed him to give his side before she gave hers.

Kitaoka curled one of the sofa cushions over her ears before replying, "Sure, knock yourself out."

The suken-eyed man scratched at his silver shag and shook his head. "Well, where to start, then?"

"I don't care. So long as it gets you to shut up."

The room fell silent. Slowly, Kitaoka let the cushion uncurl, then threw an arm over her eyes. Getotsu rose from his seat and took his tea outside. The city sprawled beyond in mechanical chaos under a clear blue sky.

Somewhere else, Tajima sat inside waiting for something to happen.

 _What are you expecting me to do?_ Getotsu wondered, leaning out on the balcony rail. The cool, crisp winter air carried notes of marine salt and hearty fried meats from street vendors. It all felt more inviting than spending any more time inside with Kitaoka.

Still, he'd agreed to give it a try.

Sighing to himself, Getotsu straightened up and reached out with his senses. His O-Ability allowed him to manipulate gravity in carbon based structures. As a byproduct, he could telepathically sense humans. He could feel the staff outside the room, the people on the street below, and…

Getotsu paused as he realized Kitaoka was no longer on the sofa.

"So," she said, coming up behind him, "you're gonna just hide out here until time's up?"

"Sorry, Kitaoka." He gave her a half-hearted smile over his shoulder before looking back out over the city. "I'm just… a little lost."

He braced himself for an attack, for her to pounce on the statement and turn it into an insult. For whatever reason, she stayed quiet.

Slowly, the man eased himself back onto the balcony rail. He held his tea cup level with his chin, close enough to smell the inviting aroma without tasting the bitter body. "Do you ever feel like everyone knows what's going on but you?"

"...Why do you want to talk to me?"

Getotsu shifted on the rail and tried to think up something sincere without giving the whole situation away.

"And you better not say 'because it's my job'," the girl went on.

He raised his eyebrows at the city scape and ventured a sip. "Why not?"

"Because it's a weak-ass excuse," the girl said sharply.

"Alright," Getotsu replied. "Then how about, 'because someone else thought this was a good idea'?"

He heard her spit. "Still weak… but I guess you can have it. Did Ayane say that?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Ms. Tajima asked me to—"

"Ms. Tajima," Kitaoka mimicked in a guttural voice. "God… you sound so fake. If you care what she thinks that much, why don't you call her Ayane?"

"Like how I call you Kitaoka?" he asked patiently, turning to face her.

She glared at him for a second before sniffing and turning her head to the side. "Fine…" she grumbled, "Yukiko."

"Hmm… Yuki—"

"And don't even think about calling me 'Yuki-chan', or any of that crap," she interrupted, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You'll make me sick."

"Yukiko, then," Getotsu finished, offering a handshake. "I'm honored to meet you."

In reply, she put her hands on her hips and snorted. "Don't push it with the mush, bud."

"Fair enough." He withdrew his hand but kept a quiet smile to himself. "So, Yukiko… what's life like for you."

"It sucks," she said, playing with one of her glove's buckles, "hardcore. Ayane says they're still looking for my brother, but I think she says that just to keep me from having a meltdown."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah, my brother," the girl repeated dully, coming up to lean on the railing herself. "Or my… twin. I used to be able to feel him there. Now it just feels… empty."

Getotsu nodded and took another sip. "So what do you think happened to him then?" It was a dangerous question to ask. Although Getotsu didn't personally buy into the whole twin telepathy business, he was still dancing dangerously close to questions about her past. Still, she seemed to need closure more than anything at this point.

"I think he's..." She trailed off and leaned hard into the railing, resting her chin on her folded arms. After a moment she gave a bitter chuckle. "Damn. I can't even say it. Even if it's probably true, I just can't say it out loud."

Getotsu fixed his eyes on the blue sky above them. Yukiko didn't need a stranger staring at her right now. "And… if he is?"

In his peripheral vision he saw her hands migrate up to grasp her skull. "I don't know. I already don't know what happened to me; how I got so messed up. Hell if I know what happened to him. It's just… he disappeared right before that blank spot in my memory. It's almost like I'm blocking it out 'cuz I can't even trust myself. You know what that's like?"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

"'Maybe'?" She guffawed in disbelief. "Seriously? That's the damn best you—?"

"I don't know," Getotsu returned curtly. "I don't know if I've ever felt something that awful."

"...Then why the hell are you here?"

The sunken-eyed man paused a second before pushing off the railing and heading inside again. "Because even if everything's safe now, I still want to know the pain you're going through. I want to help you, Yukiko."

"You're insane."

He shrugged and moved to refill his cup. "Then maybe you're the one who needs to help me, eh?"

From his position by the sofa, he heard another derisive snort.

"If you need my help, then you're already jacked up beyond saving."

"Probably," he admitted. Then, "Tea?"

She gave him a look over her shoulder and skeptically shifted her mouth to one side. They matched eyes for a second before she turned out to the view over the city again. "Whatever."

He poured an extra glass and moved to join her. "Beautiful day out, isn't it?"

"Y'know..." She stopped, then shook her head. "Yeah. You're right."

Getotsu froze.

"That's what my brother would say," she explained, turning around and taking the tea cup from him. "He always tried to make things better than they really were. He was really… something else."

Getotsu smiled and raised his glass in a small toast. "I'll bet he was."

 **-End[06]-**

Author's Note:

Man, the moment I get out of school I turn narcoleptic. Who knew that sleep deprivation had such obvious effects? Darn you, logical consequences…

Anyway, this week's pick definitely has some explaining to do for itself. First off, the title. Six-Card Bonus is a variant of Stud Poker wherein players work with three cards on the table and three in their hand. In this situation, it's meant to refer to the difference between the raw facts on the table and the powerful hidden emotions that Yukiko brings to the table to wreak havoc on Getotsu's stable perspective.

Also, speaking of Yukiko, she's a character from Eeveegen9988's _Unsealed Fates_. Check that story out and stick with it past the awkward opening chapters. The later payback is well worth it.

You've probably noticed the abrupt shift in tone from last week to this week. Don't worry, we'll be going back to goofy and light hearted next week with Pokoni. With themes like "The Doubtful" and "Fairy Tale with a Twist", I get the distinct feeling that awesome shenanigans are about to go down in 07-Lucky Run.

Speaking of this week's prompts though, I felt that "Under a Clear Blue Sky" was more than just a literal element. "Tea Party" definitely was literal, but "Blue Sky" played more into the serene setting after Yukiko's storm as well as Getotsu's passive, patient attitude as he works to bring Yukiko back into balance.

Anyway, I should also say thank you to Aviantei for being awesome and dropping a few reviews. She's doing some original fiction this Summer, so if you feel like checking out something new and interesting this summer consider giving her a go. Also, totally check out the rest of the TSoS community as they continue to pump out more stories. Year four and they're still coming up with amazing content. Such the best.

Finally, thank you for reading to this halfway point. I appreciate that you've somehow enjoyed what's gone down so far and hope that the next six will just prove to be even more enjoyable.

Until then, though, keep it saucey.

See you next week,

-CG


	7. 07: Lucky Run

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 07: Lucky Run**

By Chronic Guardian

 _-Red J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #107: Conversation via CARD between members Queen and Ace as follows:_

" _A very merry Christmas, Miss Ayane! What can we do for you today?_ "

"Merry Christmas to you as well, Ms. Rikamizu. Just a small favor—"

" _Oooh? A favor?_ "

"Yes, just asking after one of our members."

" _Oh, Leo's fine._ "

"I… no, not him. I meant Pokoni."

"..."

"Ms. Rikamizu?"

" _Pokoni is missing_."

"Yes. And he left his CARD at base so I can't track his movement. He's not in the kitchen, and I don't have any records of him leaving the building, but he's not showing up on surveillance either."

" _Miss Ayane… correct me if I'm wrong, but Pokoni is the red headed boy with a hero complex, true_?"

"Yes, that's him."

" _A hero complex on Christmas_."

"...I think I understand. Do you think he'll make any problems for us?"

" _That depends, Miss Ayane, what kind of a budget is he working with?_ "

"Younger members are mostly paid in benefits, ma'am."

" _Ah, that could make things difficult._ "

"So you think—?"

" _Absolutely._ "

"Alright then, can I count on you to keep an eye out for him?"

" _Me and Parker both. In the meantime though, maybe run a check?_ "

"Of members who have posted requests?"

" _Exactly! Bravo, Miss Ayane._ "

"But if that's really the case maybe we should leave him alone."

" _Miss Ayane… have you heard the saying, 'we often meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it'?_ "

"Yes?"

" _Sometimes the opposite is also true._ "

"So then, if Pokoni sees his destiny as being a true hero..."

" _As I said, I'll keep an eye out. Try not to worry too much, eh?_ "

"...Yes, ma'am."

" _Oh, please. You're making me feel old._ "

"Apologies, Ms. Rikamizu."

" _Right. Well… I suppose we've some work to do. See you soon?_ "

"Yes, see you then. Good luck."

-Close(DRAW#107)-

 **-J-**

Evening settled over Tokyo in a warm tinge of orange. Soon strings of Christmas lights like rows of fireflies flickered on along the storefronts. Foot traffic began to thin as families settled in for the evening and the leftovers congregated in restaurants and parks to celebrate the occasion. It was a time of peace and joy.

Unless, of course, you happened to be working.

Everyone had their different traditions, and for whatever reason the unattached seemed drawn to eating out on Christmas Eve. Among the more popular locations, Sunshine Burger somehow built up a loyal following of Christmas Chicken Sandwich devotees. On any other evening that would be fine. On this particular evening, it was a waking nightmare.

Tonight, everyone was calling her name.

"H-hey, Toda-san! Pilot light's gone out on the grill!"

"Toda-san, Toda-san! Could you authorize this transaction? He's buying over five-thousand yen worth."

"Toda-saaan, Kaori isn't back from break yet! Did she check in with you?"

Spinning around to cast a glance at the carnage in the kitchen, she quickly assessed the situation and nodded. "Just hang on a sec, I'll be there!"

 **Shigemi Toda – Queen of Spades**

She never said no, she never backed down. Even if Sunshine was technically just a front, she still devoted the same attention to it as she did with her work on Spades. Was that a dumb decision? Oh, definitely. Even if she found it therapeutic at times, she couldn't deny that the job was dramatically reducing her life span with times like this.

However, that wasn't going to stop her from doing her best. She just had to hang in there and hope for a miracle. Besides, it could be worse. She could be fighting Noise.

"Angelo-san," she ordered, pointing at the young man who had reported the break incident. He responded with a bright smile despite the circumstances. "Take the counter, please?"

He shot back a nod and slipped into the position. "Whatever you say!" Even as a foreigner, Angelo was probably one of her best customer service representatives.

"Tokai-san," she said next, taking the other register with the five-thousand plus transaction. "Go see if you can find Kaori."

The relieved cashier clapped her shoulder and winked. "Give 'em hell, boss!" Then he was gone.

"Mayu-chan!" she called out when the transaction cleared. "Can you try restarting the grill?"

"I-I can try!"

Shigemi grimaced. Actually, that was probably a bad idea. Mayu was new to the crew, and painfully shy. She couldn't work a register without apologizing three-times-per-order and anything with fire made her cringe. But, if Shigemi stepped away from the register…

"G-gah!" Mayu cried out a moment later. "I can't do it!"

 _"_ Just hold on!" Shigemi shouted back. "I'll be there as soon as—"

"SPECIAL DELIVERY!"

Shigemi just had time to blink as someone a little shorter than Mayu muscled in from the back and took up a power stance at the grill. His bald scalp gleamed in the fluorescent light and his loose kimono blazed with the lucky red of the Chinese new year. In a way, he almost looked familiar...

 _Pa-thoom!_

He snapped his fingers and the burgers on the dormant grill were instantly charbroiled.

"Hey!" He turned to give her an ear-to-ear jolly grin. "You need some help, lady?"

 **Hotei-Osho(?)** **–** **Seven** **of Luck Gods**

Shigemi felt her jaw hanging loose. "I… I'm sorry. Who—?"

"It is I, Hotei-Osho!" the newcomer boomed in a voice fresh out of adolescence. He thumped his scrawny chest and laughed. "Hohohoh! My second eyes saw that you were in trouble!"

"Oh really?" Angelo raised his eyebrows and shared a look with Shigemi. "You think his second eyes saw the line out the door?"

"Ho-hotay-ozo?" Mayu sputtered out, cringing away from the intruder.

 _"_ Hotei-Osho!" the bald boy repeated, helping himself to the order tickets and throwing another batch of patties on the grill. "One of the Seven Luck Gods? Guardian of Christmas? Bringer of presents to all the good little boys and girls?"

Shigemi gave him a tilted look. "You mean Santa Claus?"

"What? NO!" the boy's face squinched with indignance. "Hotei-Osho! And I'mma give ya the gift of catching up while someone fixes this grill!"

"A-alright then!" Shigemi gave a determined nod and turned back to the counter. As bizarre as it was, the mystery boy was still the Christmas miracle she needed. Once Kaori got back things could stabilize, but until then this would work.

When Tokai finally returned with his coworker, however, the young Hotei vanished before Shigemi could so much as thank him.

"What was that kid's deal?" Tokai asked as he took over the register again.

Angelo merely chuckled. "Just a little lucky charm when we needed it most, I guess."

 _Lucky,_ Shigemi echoed to herself as she caught sight of the still-swinging backdoor. As a Deck operative she'd seen a lot of unbelievable stuff in her time. However, that didn't mean it was unexplained. The King always seemed to have everything down to a science. He pulled off the impossible, but she wouldn't say he was lucky. Just… gifted.

And cute. And smart. And cool. And—

She shook her head. It wasn't exactly the same with this kid, but she was getting a similar feeling. She couldn't put her finger on it for sure, but it was definitely more than mere coincidence.

 _I wonder…_

 _Bzzzt!_ Her thoughts were interrupted as her CARD vibrated an alert. Rushing over to her bag, she slipped the device out and checked the screen.

[Noise attack in progress.] A few markers blinked on the screen, one of them near her location. [Engage?]

Shigemi pressed her mouth into a tight line and looked around the kitchen. Everything actually seemed pretty settled now. Thanks to the mystery kid, she'd be able to step out for a moment without anyone noticing.

Clocking out for a break, the Queen of Spades seized her lucky opportunity and hit the streets.

 **-J-**

The evening breeze was cool in the winter.

It was even colder for those with ice powers.

Outside his foster family's apartments, Izo Shuito began teaching the Noise the danger of relying on a mild forecast.

"Insolent whelps!"

Ice spikes shot out of the ground, skewering the smaller invaders and fencing off the larger ones as they tried to corner him. The interdimensional monsters often took the form of earth animals with distorted limbs. The current batch was currently imitated a wolf pack accompanied by a cast of crabs. Slowly, the began nipping away at his makeshift barrier.

 _What obloquy_ , Izo thought to himself. _To finally seek reunion only to be thwarted…_ How much energy had he thrown into that last attack? He was feeling a little light headed...

"Hey!" A higher-end tenor cracked through the air, temporarily startling the Noise as they scrambled to face the intruder. "Ain'tcha got no manners?"

Beyond the fading ice spikes, Izo caught sight of a bald child dressed in monks garb. He looked… vaguely familiar.

"Usually I save the gifts for the good kids," the bald child went on, injecting his voice with theatric drawl. "But for you buncha punks I'mma make an exception!" He leveled a finger at the Noise just as they began to regroup and charge him.

 _What luck_ , Izo reflected in a moment of dark humor. _A twitty shows up to distract the beasts while I rally. A pity I can't save him too._

Then, as the Noise closed on their target…

"Hotei-Osha _BOOM_!"

A conflagration ripped through the air, enveloping the entire group. When the smoke cleared, there was only the stranger.

"And for you, little boy," the bald child continued in a tone of maximum-bravado as he brushed himself off, "I give the gift of not dying! You're welcome!"

Adjusting his glasses, Izo straightened up and narrowed his eyes. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it yet. If he could just get the intruder to blather on a while longer…

"And you are?" the blue-haired young man asked cooly.

"Why, Hotei-Osho, legendary god of luck and luxury!" the child declared, planting his hands on his hips and thrusting out his belly. "Don't you recognize me?"

"Hmph..." Izo knew the mythic figure. He'd actually been terrified of the corpulent monk at one point. Even if Hotei-Osho was traditionally a benevolent gift giver, Izo always found the illustrations of a fat man lounging in a loose kimono disturbing. Now that he saw the trimmed down version though, it was easy to see why the illustrators preferred the alternative. "You look like a half-starved gremlin."

"Hey buddy!" the imposter cried. "I just saved your life! A lil' respect would be nice, y'know! I'll throw in a good word with the other luck gods too if—"

"You're not Hotei-Osho, blathering addlepate," Izo cut in, turning back to his parents' apartment building. Although he didn't usually have the tolerance for these kind of antics, this evening was a particularly bad time.

"What?! You would doubt the power of—Wait, IZO?!"

Izo paused with his hand on the door as the voice clicked.

 **Pokoni – Seven of Red J0KER**

"Blazerat," the Red Six muttered under his breath.

"I mean, uh! You!" the bald Seven tried again, regaining his affected tone of voice. "I… I saw your name with my second eyes! The ones I got on the back of my head to make sure all you kids aren't bein' naughty!"

Izo turned to lock the younger boy in a withering stare before slowly answering. "A J0KER member running wild like this could have consequences, you know."

After a moment of silence between them Izo turned back to the door and opened it. "How fortuitous that I didn't mark one tonight," he said over his shoulder.

Risking one more look, Izo found that Pokoni had vanished into the approaching dusk. In a way, that too was fortuitous.

Izo hated saying direct 'thank you's.

 **-J-**

"Noise attacks in multiple sectors," Reiko reported, reading from her CARD. After a day at the 104 clandestinely catching up with old colleagues, she and Leo were finally headed back to base. Unfortunately, it seemed like the Noise were about to force a detour. "Looks like this is going to be anything but a silent night."

"No problem!" Beside her, Leo drove a fist into an open hand and gave her a tight grin. "Once we find some reinforcements we can—"

"—Point them in the right direction?" Reiko interrupted, inclining her chin towards her counterpart.

"...I was thinking more along the lines of 'help 'em out'," he said, rubbing at the back of his head. "I mean, doesn't it seem kinda dumb to dump all the work off on someone else?"

"Ah, but we'd have to be lucky enough to avoid all the 'secrecy' red tape. Unless you'd like to spend Christmas morning helping the Director host a reveal conference with the Suits, of course."

Leo frowned. "You're kidding, right?"

"Partly," she answered wistfully, looking back at her CARD. "It really will be a headache and probably half-a-year's worth of internal ironing if J0KER gets leaked—"

"But people could die if we don't do something!"

"And then there's that," Reiko acknowledged calmly. "Which is why we won't do nothing."

Leo gave her an expectant look and showed his hands. "So then what do we do? Hope for a miracle?"

"Well… you could call it a miracle. You could also call it calculated grace. To be perfectly frank, though, I'd like to phrase it as—"

"'Scuse me! Make way!" a bald kid in an old-fashioned robe came barging throw the crowd, forcing himself between the two Aces along the way. "Hotei-Osho comin' through!"

"—a lucky run," Reiko finished with a wink. "But only because it's got a nice ring to it. Now, shall we?"

"Wait," Leo grabbed her arm, but kept pace as they hurried after the child. "I could sense an O-Gene on that guy. It felt like—"

"—Pokoni?" Reiko grinned and patted Leo's hand. "Well then, I guess I'll have to tell Ayane we found him. Go and keep the child out of trouble, would you?"

"Oh! Uh, Right!" Leo nodded and started off on the bald one's trail. He threw a wave behind before disappearing into the crowd.

When he was gone, she breathed a sigh of relief and continued on her way. In truth, it was a real stroke of fortune. When she first heard the Seven was missing, she'd expected him to be selling his powers as parlor tricks. To a child with no real income, it made sense to make money through any means available. Even if it was so mundane as frying burgers, she wouldn't put it past Pokoni to sell his abilities to the highest bidder. He was crafty enough to leave his CARD at base, but that didn't mean he was smart enough to realize the consequences of his actions.

Then again, sometimes it took ignoring the temporary consequences to get something really worthwhile done.

"Guess we had nothing to worry about after all," the Red Ace murmured to herself, following after her teammates.

Besides, now she had a story of the most unique Hotei-Osho to ever grace the streets of Tokyo. And considering this one saved lives, she had to admit it was her favorite version to date.

 _Some traditions are worth twisting._

 **-End[07]-**

Author's Note:

Heya! Uncle CG here!

Yeah, that's right. Uncle.

I'm an uncle now. :D

Can you tell I'm excited?

It's so awesome to know that soon I'm gonna—

What's that? Oh, the story. Right.

Ahem.

Sooo… yeah. This was sloppy and rushed. Although I'm out of school now, this week has been spent on crazy social obligations that drag me to the ends of the earth (Or at least forty miles down the road) and back. I'm glad to reconnect with the sibs and all that (and become an uncle) and talk with some close friends that I haven't gotten to see for a while, but now that that's out of the way I'm gonna try to focus on writing more consistently.

Y'know, since I have a degree for that and stuff.

But I digress. This story. This story is about Pokoni, who is probably the most selfless yet egotistical member of J0KER. The kid really does just want to help, and will do so at any cost, but he also has a fair amount of pride riding on his work. I tried to use "The Doubtful" in some of the reactions to his antics and "Fairy Tale with a Twist" as Pokoni himself twisting the fairy tale of Hotei-Osho. Y'know, in case that wasn't obvious. Forgive me if it is, my brain is kinda mushy at the moment.

Oh, also, this chapter opening had all sorts of cameos that could stand to be more thought out. This included the timid Mayu from **EeveeGen9988** 's stories, the ever-cheery Mihael Angelo from **Hyoxjnn** (Er… **ImamuraCross?** )'s _X Days,_ and Tokai Michi from… well, _From the UnderGround Up_ , technically. At this point he only exists on the internet as sketches, but he's totally a character. Oh, and Kaori. Yeah, she happened too. Anyway, I do apologize for wasting the Deckverse positions of these characters on Sunshine Burger of all places, but not everyone can be a Deck Operative. Somebody's gotta rock the front lines of society. Y'know, just throwin' that out there…

Also, I must admit I had fun with this story because it shows off Pokoni in his oddly thoughtful moments (such as freeing up Shigemi to go and help with the Noise) and his totally-not-thought-out moments (such as the encounter with Izo). Although he really is a side character, I feel like Pokoni's come into his own in some ways. If only here, he finally gets to play the hero he's always wanted to be.

Oh, and a Lucky Run would be a run of sevens, the lucky number. Just sayin'.

Well, I think that about covers it then. Join us next week for **08 – Crazy Eights** with the prompts "Invincible" and "Scars" as Rueban and Amber take some time to reconnect.

Until then!

-Uncle CG

[07/16/17]


	8. 08: Crazy Eights

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 08: Crazy Eights**

By Chronic Guardian

-Red J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #108: conversation between members Eight and Joker as follows:

"So, for the record, I am allowing you to scrap my reservations at a five star restaurant with live music and dancing so we can watch teenagers flirt with gravity and possible debilitating injuries."

"Oh, please Rue, it's called hoverboarding and you're the one that let me pick what we did. You just assumed I'm into fancy restaurants and dancing."

"How do I even begin to explain what you're missing..."

"Could you explain it later? Let's just enjoy today for now."

"...Later then. But you are getting the full lecture eventually."

"But that stuff's so snobby!"

"It's not snobby, it's cultured."

"I bet you Aunt Yutsui would agree with me."

"Aunt Yutsui taught me how to dance."

"Really? She likes dancing? _That's_ hard to picture."

"She likes a lot of things when she's not on the job."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Cheese and wine to start. Romantic haiku as well. A funny mixture."

"Mixture?"

"It had two syllables."

"Two—? Oh. I get it. You know, that's not very romantic."

"Sorry Dear, guess I'm out of practice."

"When were you ever in practice?"

"Maybe in another life."

"Yeah, well, don't push it for this one. Take it slow. Enjoy the moment, you know?"

"You sound like your uncle."

"Heh… You really think so?"

"Guess that comes with the whole 'being related' thing."

"Don't tell Ayumu. I think he's hoping I turn out different."

"He'll get over it."

"You sure?"

"So long as you don't shove coffee in his face and laugh when he's trying to be serious you should be fine."

"Does Uncle really do that? I never noticed."

"Yes, well… sometimes we're blind when it comes to the people we love most."

"I guess that's fair."

"With that said, I believe you were dragging me to the Christmas Eve Hoverboard Grindfest?"

"Yeah, that's the plan! So, got any other objections?"

"Objections? Me? Never."

"Good."

"Complaints, however—"

"Okay, okay! C'mon. You can finish that thought when we get back."

-Close(DRAW#108)-

The teenage couple boarded the train in the Shiro district. The boy found an open seat but the girl refused to take it, so they stood together in relative silence until disembarking in the Kiiro district. To anyone watching, however, the two teens were still having a conversation in the silent way that people do when they want to be heard without talking.

The girl, loosely hugging a black stuffed cat to her chest, pressed her mouth into a thin line and raised honey eyebrows. She wore a pair of bright red fuzzy ear muffs to block out the nagging sound and cold. The rest of her ensemble, a fringed mid-length coat, plaid pleated skirt, gloves, scarf, and leggings, maintained the focused color scheme with spotless whites and similar holiday reds complimented by the occasional black and gold. Her fingers drummed on her cat's stomach while she waited for a reply.

 **Amber Hanekoma – True Joker**

The boy stared back patiently, but with perhaps a hint of condescension; like a parent attempting to outlast their stubborn, unreasonable child. He matched his partner's colors, but felt a greater preponderance towards black and, in general, looked more smartly dressed for a better occasion. The sharp crease of his suit jacket's lapels frowned back at her hastily knotted scarf while his gold cufflinks winked at her gloves, which were a size too big. He gave her a half-smile and tugged his sleeves over his cufflinks.

 **Rueban – Eight of Red J0KER**

She slowly lowered her eyebrows into an annoyed squint and made as if to look away. Not a feint, just enough to direct her partner's attention without breaking contact. _Up ahead,_ she told him. _Stop being so childish. Hurry, or we'll be late._

The boy softened his patient look and offered his arm. _Go together?_

The girl half-rolled her eyes in exasperation, but shifted her stuffed animal to one arm before linking elbows with him.

He let his half-smile settle into a full one. Still closed-lip, but genuine and warm. _Thank you_.

"Do you forgive me yet?" the girl asked dryly, finally breaking eye contact. She looked ahead towards the hoverboarding arena and brushed at her sandy bangs. They hung almost to eye level and she was due for a trim soon.

"Forgive you for what, Dear?" he returned without breaking stride. He had ideas, of course, but it was more effective to ask. _For me making a fuss earlier? For you having opinions?_ he teased silently. _You're too kind._

She sighed. "Don't be like that."

"'Like that?' Why, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, Rue," she made a light jab with the elbow crooked around his own. "It's been a while, but we did grow up together. You're still stewing about earlier, aren't you?"

 _Perhaps_ , he wanted to say. He shouldn't be, but that didn't mean he wasn't. Rueban knew himself to be petty and vain, and particularly so when least convenient. So maybe he still thought hoverboarding was a dumb thing to blow a perfectly good Christmas Eve on. Amber didn't. And today wasn't about dancing, it was about Amber.

"I'll live," he assured, patting her arm with his free hand. "Besides, you're right: it _is_ stupid to pretend indifference."

"Great, so next time you'll make sure to rig it so we have to go dancing."

Rueban kept his eyes forward and mentally slugged himself. He was giving his disappointment undue attention. "Maybe," he said in a wistful sing-song. "But today's already packed with that grindfest. I'll have to get those scheming hours in another time."

"Yeah, or maybe… I don't know." Her shoulders hunched up in an exaggerated shrug before coming back down in communicative release. _Maybe never?_

In honor of her unflagging optimism, he allowed a small smile escape to his face. "Maybe. Old habits die hard."

"Heh." She laughed. It sounded genuine enough that he let it slide past his deeper analytics. "Guess you always were the more realistic one."

Rueban leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. "I suppose." _If not the less truthful…_

Amber grinned and lightly pushed his chest. He took the impact dutifully; A few practiced steps back before regaining pace. He didn't have to do it. Part of him didn't even want to. And if she knew that, she wouldn't want it either. But she wouldn't ask and he wouldn't tell. In a world of walls and secrets, Amber Hanekoma was the rare specimen who could vault any barrier and uncover any truth. The only reason she didn't read Rueban like a Sunday paper was because she respected him as a friend.

A little further down the street and Rueban could see the hoverboarders starting to jump up into the air like neon colored bits of oversized popcorn. Some saluted the crowd, all were showy, and most made a safe landing afterwords.

Most.

An anouncer's voice boomed out over the skate park as a particularly nasty fall took place. "Ouch! Eatin' street like a tasty meat, ain't no Christmas treat for the cleats that go off the board. No fun for the son who ain't got none, gotta run like a K-One for somma that spicy-tuna steamed bun!"

Rueban chuckled to himself and looked away. "Using others' pain as a chance for advertisement? Classy."

"Rough scene," Amber told him as she hugged his arm a little closer. "Comes with the territory."

 _Rough scene indeed…_ Rueban saw hoverboarding as entertainment in the same way five star chefs saw microwave noodles as food: it had just enough passing value to fool the stomach without actually exploring the depths of the field.

But Amber saw something in the sport. She gasped with excitement as boarders attempted daring tricks and cheered in triumph when they landed. She would lean into the same turns and lightly hop in place as if she were riding along out in the arena instead of watching on the sidelines. Rueban slowly began to recognize her excitement as the same excitement boarders got. She shared in their victories and mourned in their losses. Although she wouldn't carry the scars afterwords, she felt for them in that moment.

Sports of all kinds, but particularly hoverboarding, were big in the Kiiro district. The park was located in the heart of the sector, forming a sunken series of ramps and rails in the midst of essential offices and trending accessory outlets. Rueban could see the district administration building presiding over the far end of the park like an approving magnate hosting a sacred ceremony. While hoverboarding found popularity in other districts, in the Kiiro it was a religion. To fly well in the Kiiro was to command respect. Rueban was half convinced the current event acted as an informal caucus for the next district elections. He amused himself with the thought of a district warden being selected solely for how well she shredded metal in last weeks hover tournament.

Amber tugged at his arm, bringing him back to reality. "Oh! Did you see that one?"

"That one?" he echoed, following her point to a boarder with a loose black beanie that trailed behind his head like a wind sock. The kid flipped his board onto one of the rails and pulled a handstand all the way to the end. Rueban nodded and joined the enthusiastic applause with a golf clap.

"Crazy, right?" Amber looked at him for some form of consensus. Her eyes were positively glowing.

"Very," Rueban said simply, tracking another boarder spinning their board five-hundred and forty degrees. "He looks like he's having a lot of fun."

"Yeah..." Amber leaned forward onto the railing surrounding the rink, then flipped around to rest her elbows on it and face Rueban. "Are you?" she asked.

Rueban returned with a pleasant blank look. "Am I what?"

"Having fun," she clarified. "I mean… this isn't all about me."

"I'm enjoying your company. Does that count?"

"But you'd still rather go dancing," she concluded, narrowing her eyes in a sharp, discerning stare.

Rueban returned the stare with a tranquil gaze. "It doesn't really matter so much," he said, coming to join her at the railing.

"… Is it too physical for you?" Amber pressed. "Do you like, not bond over physical things?"

"Amber Dear, you insult me," Rue answered with mock hurt. "I can _too_ bond over physical things."

"Yeah? Like what?"

He assumed an aloof expression and casually shrugged. "Saving your life, for starters," he said. "I even have the scars to prove that one."

Amber grimaced and looked back towards the rink again. "Forgive me for thinking you maybe didn't enjoy that so much."

"Enjoy it? No, of course not. But that's not the point, Dear."

"Yeah? So what is the point, then?"

"Through bullet storms and board slides?' Rueban smiled and reached out to tap the tip of her nose. "I get to be with you. And that's not so bad once you get used to it."

Amber blinked at the touch and screwed her face up as the color started to go red. "Through any weather, huh?" she muttered back. "Guess love _does_ make you blind."

"Blind? No Dear," Rueban corrected. "I'm perfectly aware of what I'm getting myself into. I'm not blind. Love is more powerful than that. Love makes me invincible."

As sweet and corny as the words were, for once Rueban was sure he meant them.

Watching him with those perfectly warm, coffee-brown eyes, Amber soaked in the truth before smiling and taking his hand. "You know, I like it when you're honest with me," she told him.

Rueban nodded. "So do I."

 **-End[08]-**

Author's note:

So, I feel like I kind of cheated with the prompts on this one a little. Probably could have delved deeper, added more symbolism, ratched up the romantic tension, etc. etc., but for what it is, I don't think it's bad. I mean, it's Ruember fluff. Had to have at least one super shippy piece in the collection right?

Well, no, I didn't. But I did anyway. So… yes. Hopefully that doesn't deter you.

I will say, however, that I especially like how the title played into Rueban's perspective here. See, in Crazy Eights, Eights are wild cards; they go with anything. So that's a nod to Rueban's flexibility. However, being wild card's also means they're substitute Jokers. So it's kind of like making Rueban a match for Amber, the Joker of Deck. BUT it's also a play on Rueban's internal struggles, which some might see him as crazy for. I'm not gonna lie, Rueban is probably one of the most mentally/emotionally messed up characters I ever write if you let him wander into the wrong corners, but if you give him the right goals he'll usually find a way through no matter the cost. You can give him scars, but he's invincible so long as his goal's still in his sights. Pertinacity. That's what this kid's got.

Anyway, this particular entry is dedicated to **Aviantei** , and not just because she's been on a reviewing rampage. Avi is a fantastic TWEWY writer and one of those people who continue to encourage me to write Rueban and Amber long after I think I've done all I can with them. She's pushed me to new heights and made me squeeze out creative juices I didn't know I had. For that, I thank her. Hope I'm repaying you well enough, Avi. We can settle the score later.

Finally, if you haven't yet, you really should check out some of those other Twelve Shots of Summer coming out, especially the stuff by **Stealthclaw** and **PoeticLandMermaid,** two new entrants for this year. Spread the reading, spread the love, and don't forget to have an awesome summer as we head into this last fourth. I'll see you next week for **09 – Nine Hole Golf** with Neliel Reagan as we explore the prompts "The Price of Life" and "Star Gazer". Until then!

-CG


	9. 09: Nine-Hole Golf

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 09: Nine Hole Golf**

By Chronic Guardian

-Red J0KER, December 2104, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #109: conversation between Ace and CAT Officer as follows:

"Good morning, Sanae."

"Hey! Morning, Angel. Cuppa Joe?"

"Not today, thank you. Do you have anything more seasonally relevant? Say… hot cocoa with peppermint?"

"Sorry boss, nothin' doin'. I only got the coffee on. Besides, it's been ages since I brewed the other stuff so I'm prolly a little rusty anyway."

"Ah, too bad then."

"Wait a minute. You're not puttin' my beans down, are ya?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. I wouldn't dare, Sanae. I was just hoping for something a little more fitting for the visit. I'm going to see them on the west terrace."

"You mean the west terrace over at Yuu's place?"

"Of course."

"...On Christmas morning?"

"It's four AM and you're already at work. Perhaps you don't have the most leeway to criticize how I spend my holiday, eh?"

"You're talkin' about spending Christmas in a graveyard, Angel."

"Perhaps. But that's what comes of this life we live."

"You coulda asked for a desk job like me."

"I could have avoided Deck altogether if I wanted to, yes. But that's not the point. People like me were born to die fighting."

"That so? Then what about people like me?"

"Born to watch."

"Ha! Put on a good show for me then, huh Angel?

"Some other time, Sanae. For now we both take it easy."

"Yup, _easy_."

"...Relative term in our case."

"Seems that way somedays, yeah."

"We're still alive though, aren't we?"

"Exactly. Still got life left to spend. So go out there and spend it good, alright?"

"I'll certainly try. You do your best too, of course."

"Should be easy when I'm only watchin', right? Just do me a favor and watch yourself out there in the great big world."

"Do you expect any less? After all—"

"—That's the job of the Ace?"

"In my opinion, anyway, yes."

"Your lines haven't changed."

"Yes, I suppose I'll have to work on that."

"Until then?"

"Until then, Sanae."

-Close(DRAW#109)-

 **-J-**

In many ways, the Minami-MATH Tower was a miniature sampling of life in Tokyo. The bottom layers hosted visitor information and customer relations functions, putting on a warm smile for whatever pieces of the outside world cared to look in. The next few floors handled operations and on-site development, taking up the bulk of the space and generally giving outsiders the impression it was all there was to think about. The final top layers fell under the dubious official designation of administrative discretion. That section was what J0KER called home. It was a small piece of quiet comfort and essential duty tucked away above the visible business that kept the world moving.

However, even further up were the sloping top sectors facing north, south, east, and west like a compass rose at the heart of the city. The north section directed air traffic into the freight hangars below while the east section housed Director Minamimoto's tea garden and personal apartments. The south section took care of communication recieval and relays, quietly keeping watch over the airways and ordering the backbone of the metropolitan network. And despite their distance from the "normal" sections of the building, each of these three saw daily use. The west terrace was different.

The west terrace was different. Like a twin to the Director's indoor tea garden on the opposite side of the building, the western terrace was a terraformed top layer with tiny bits of greenery poking out above the cloud layer among pink cherry trees and black stone slabs that curved over like a row of monks in morning prayer. The terrace was the last to see dawn and last to bid the sun goodbye in the evening. It was a quiet place of waiting. And of all the places in the Minami-MATH Tower, it was Reiko's favorite.

The skyline was still mostly dark by the time she made it back from the 104 building. Unlike street level, the higher pieces of Tokyo seemed to understand the concept of rest. Christmas lights twinkled below and electronic billboards tried to tell her there was still time for last minutes gifts. Reiko smiled secretively back at them and hugged the warm cup of coffee to her chest as if to shield it from the cold. She rode the lift up to the J0KER floors before switching over to another line dedicated to the top sanctuaries. Canned elevator tunes kept her company while she dozed on her feet and counted up the days since her last visit to the terrace. She envisioned the names of every CHECKMATE member and fellow J0KER who had watched her leave thirteen years ago.

Perhaps she would have to apologize to some new names for intruding.

The pre-dawn air greeted her with a bracing chill that nipped at her uncovered nose and tugged at her clothes. She'd chosen a traditional black kimono for the occasion. Not particularly festive considering the holiday going on below, but she could always change before the day began. She would be done by then.

She made her way across a shallow rock garden towards where the onyx monuments were planted. Stepping stones like full moons beamed up at her as she moved to her target. Once there, she reached out to the first in the row and ran a hand across the etched face, feeling for the letters listed there.

"Izolda," she sighed wistfully, breaking the morning silence. "I'm back."

Somewhere further ahead on the terrace, rocks crunched together in a misplaced footstep.

"Dear me, seems we have company," Reiko murmured, gathering herself up again. "Well, I suppose I shan't keep them waiting. Hold on, will you?"

The midnight face of the memorial stared back patiently as the Red Ace laid down her cup of coffee at its base and headed off to investigate. The terrace garden was arranged in a series of steps moving down the west side of the roof divided by a series of fish ponds. The current weather saw the ponds covered for the season to keep the residents from freezing. Reiko glanced at the fish gliding in perpetual summer beside her and wondered when their long swim would end. _Not for a while, yet_ , she assured herself, and kept moving.

She had just passed the second set of steps when she found her culprit. An O-Gene presence with a particular kinetic twinge nearby. Reiko smiled. "I always wondered if you were a morning person," she said wryly. Turning towards the pleasant buzz, she levelled a finger at a small cherry tree thicket. "Ms. Neliel Reagan."

The shadows under the thicket shifted then hesitantly moved towards her, slowly forming into the likeness of a young woman. "Is it morning?" Reagan asked as she came into full view. Reiko could just make out the slight downturn of a frown on the younger woman's face.

"It will be soon," the Ace confirmed curtly. "Long night?"

Reagan paused and cast a look further down the terrace towards a patch of Japanese barberry shrubs. Their red berries winked back in the waning moonlight. "Just… testing a new program," she said at last.

"A new program?" Reiko echoed, throwing on a prompting lift to the end.

"Personal stuff," Reagan answered shortly without turning around. "Nothing out of bounds. Don't worry, I read the hand-outs."

Reiko covered a giggle. "I'm not here to shut you down, Ms. Reagan."

"Yes." Reagan nodded. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"Hmm? About what?"

"You seemed to be in the middle of something," Reagan explained, finally turning back to Reiko. "You know, with the monuments over there."

"Ah, well… Perhaps so." Reiko shrugged. "Did I startle you?"

"No." The answer came quick and decisive. "That was me losing control."

"Of the program you're testing?"

"...Yes."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"Well..." Reagan gave the older woman a measuring look and shifted her mouth to one side. "To be perfectly honest," she replied, "I'm not sure how interesting you'll think this is."

"Indulge me anyway," Reiko insisted playfully, leaning in like a school girl eager to hear the latest gossip.

Reagan gave what might have been an eye roll (it was difficult to tell in the low light) and turned back towards the shrubs. "Could you tell me first?"

"Tell you what?"

"What you're doing up here," the younger woman went on. "I mean… I haven't been here very often since we left, but the only other person I've ever seen is the Director. Is it always like that?"

"Mostly," Reiko agreed, bobbing her head. "If you're looking for a quiet corner of the Tower to curl up in, I'd say this is a fair pick."

"Because it's a cemetery?"

"Memorial, actually," the Ace corrected. "Noise kills don't leave very much to burn or bury."

"Oh."

Reiko let the single, soft statement stand for a second before pressing on. "Do you think that's a little harsh?"

"… It's worth it though, isn't it?"

No denial of the question, just a counter push. Reiko liked that about Reagan: she never denied the facts, but she was willing to transform their context.

"It's part of life," Reiko shrugged. "Nothing comes for free. For everyone living a full life, someone somewhere is footing a very large bill."

The line belonged to Hideo Ganabara, an older member of J0KER who had transferred over to CHECKMATE as a financial officer. A little ways up the terrace, his name watched her renew the thought in his absence.

Reagan nodded slowly. "Like the city."

"I'm sorry?"

"The city," she repeated. "There's so much life going on here, but the people had to give up space, and silence, and..." she trailed off and looked up.

Reiko raised her eye brows and leaned over in an attempt to line her vision up with Reagan's. Above them, she could see the warm halo of city lights framing a dull black sky. No moon, no sun. A perfect dark beyond the light pollution. It felt empty. It was missing…

"...Stars?" she suggested, turning back to Reagan.

The younger woman dipped her chin slightly before bringing it back up.

"I see." It was a fair answer. That was one thing Reiko really did miss about missions: looking up into the night sky to see a blanket of stars shining radiantly across light years of time and space. And yet, even stars had limits.

"You can't see anything from here," Reagan sighed. "No Orion, no milky way, and no—"

She stopped mid-sentence as two shooting stars streaked across the night sky, burning gloriously for one instant before disappearing into the morning dusk.

Reiko smiled. "Did you see those ones?"

"Yes, but… those won't stay."

"They'll stay up here," Reiko said, tapping her own forehead. "The two stars bright enough to break the silence. And we never would have seen them if we weren't here to share that moment."

"I wonder what'll be left when they land," Reagan continued idly. She swung her braid over her shoulder so her fingers could play with it.

Reiko could only shrug. "Maybe nothing. Maybe some rare space metal, maybe the last recordings of a downed satellite, but maybe nothing all the same. What matters is that we saw them. People can be that way too, you know?"

Reagan turned and Reiko thought she could make out a suspicious frown. "You mean their lives only matter for a second other people might not even see?"

"Perhaps," Reiko admitted. "But more that sometimes the price of making a difference is living boldly in the face of danger. Even if you never get to see what your life bought, sometimes it needs to happen. For some people in this city, those shooting stars are the proof that stars exist in general."

"...Ms. Rikamizu?"

"Yes?"

"Does that have anything to do with why you're here?"

"Why I'm here on the terrace, or why I'm with Deck in general?"

"Here, now. The terrace."

"Ah. The answer _was_ 'yes', either way, I just wanted to make sure."

Reagan let the joke die in cold silence. Perhaps she found it in bad taste. Reiko waited a moment longer for some hint of acknowledgment before looking back towards the barberry bush and pushing forward.

"But enough about me, what were you doing up so late?"

"Configuring a drone."

"Is that so?'

Reagan nodded. "To see above the pollution."

"Ah." Reiko nodded back and squinted at the shrubs. She could just make out a few rectangular outlines protruding from the branches. "Did it fall?"

"It got clipped by a bird," Reagan sighed, slumping a little. "Lost control after that."

"Ah, apologies then."

"...Thanks, I guess."

"Did you at least get to see the stars?"

Reagan stopped a moment, then bobbed her head yes. "Sort of, yeah."

Reiko beamed into the night air as her breath condensed into small clouds. "Then the drone served well."

"...I guess it did."

 **-End[09]-**

Author's Notes:

Nine-Hole Golf: a game of carefully undershooting the goal to progress further.

Next week: 10 – Phase 10, "End of the World" and "Valiant" with Renkuko Tanaka


	10. 10: Phase 10

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 10: Phase 10**

By Chronic Guardian

A/N: Composed to the tune of "I've seen the Sun" by Five Iron Frenzy

 _-Minami-MATH Corp, December 2090, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #110: conversation at Hong Kong outpost between J0KER members Queen and King as follows:_

"Hey."

"Hello. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too, dear."

"Sleep well?"

"I tried. Conscience won't have any of that today."

"It wasn't your fault this happened."

"Yeah? Well it sure as hell is my fault things ended the way they did."

"Koizumi—"

"She was right there in front of me, Ren. Two steps and I could've grabbed her hand. Hell, I could've put a void ray through her arm if I was thinking fast enough."

" _Koizumi_ , you can't let this be the end of the world for you."

"Heheh… It was for her."

"If you stop here then Kouchi died for nothing."

"And if I keep going then she still died for nothing. Decisions, decisions."

"She was protecting you."

"You think so? She sure did a damn fine job keeping that mind intact."

"..."

"...You still here, Ren dear?"

"I'm not giving up on you."

"Figures. Guess I'll just have to live with it then. See how far we get, eh darling?"

"At least to the end."

"I can't promise you that."

"The mission isn't over yet."

"If you want to see me at the finish line you might have to carry me there."

"I wouldn't mind."

"Hmph. I'll hold you to that, Ren dear."

"I'll be there to hold to, Yutsui."

-Close(DRAW#110)-

 **-Fourteen Years Later-**

 _Beep._

Mountains, valleys, and plains outlined in green, then softly fading to black.

 _Beep_.

Her brainwaves wrinkled a small line on the monitor. Enough to show she was alive, not enough for her to make use of it.

 _Beep_.

The monitors on the other side of the room answered the lament.

"Beep." One of the cognizant occupants in the room matched the bleak monotone from a stool by his brother's bed. He kicked his hanging legs and kept his eyes on the one other visitor.

 **Hayato/Degree – Former Zetta Squad Operative**

"Still alive," the other watcher murmured from his respective bedside. Older than the boy by a good two decades or so, the man rested his hands on his knees and patiently monitored the comatose woman beside him.

 **Renkuko "Ren" Tanaka – Former King of J0KER**

"Thirty-three percent chance of recovery," Hayato said with a hopeful lilt. "Gets all the way up to fifty-two percent by the time it's been a year."

Ren didn't look away from his charge. "And after that?"

"Seven percent," Hayato returned, "and diving."

"I see."

"That's for my brother."

"And for Yutsui?"

"Fifteen percent at three months. Seventeen at twelve. Point two for anything after."

 _Beep._

"Hey, mister."

"You may call me Ren, if you like."

" _Mister_ ," the boy said again, "what'll you do if she doesn't come back?"

 _Beep_.

"Mister?"

Ren leaned back in his chair and took a breath. "Then it will be over."

"Huh." The boy lifted his legs into his chest and rubbed his shins.

 _Beep_.

"Thirty-eight percent chance you'd hate Isamu for it."

"Hmph. Not him so much as myself."

"Mister, you don't have to lie to me just because I'm a kid."

"With all due respect, Hayato the Gambler, how do you estimate your odds?"

"Kind of a mix of things, I guess."

"Do statistics make it into the mix?"

"More now. Not so much when I was little."

"Let me assure you, statistics do not apply to this situation."

"Oh."

 _Beep_.

"Really?"

"I'm not saying it's foolproof," Ren continued as the strong lines of the woman's heartbeat faded to black. "But Yutsui is a special case: a true wild card, if you'll pardon the saying."

Hayato sniffed and shifted in his seat. "She's still human."

"Yes," Ren nodded. "And the sun slowly rises on a clouded morn. I've seen humans, Hayato; I've seen them bend and break and shatter. But today is still Christmas, and in this dark dawn I will still hope for a miracle. For I have seen miracles happen as well."

 _Beep_.

The room fell quiet again. Hayato rubbed the fuzzy strip of blond on top of his head and looked back to his brother. Ren listened to the slow trickle and hush of fluids and air pumped through tubes. He gently took Yutsui's right wrist and felt her pulse warm beneath his touch.

"Did you know," Hayato began again, "There's a small chance that any day could be the last one?"

Ren nodded, and watched as Yutsui's eyes stayed shut. "The ancients thought something similar, once upon a time."

"I'm talking about sun death, mister."

"That's what they thought, too," Ren answered. "With days getting shorter leading up to the winter solstice, some thought the world was coming to an end. Light was scarce, weather was harsh, and the even the invincible sun seemed ready to give way to eternal night. But then, after the shortest day passed, light began to return to the world and the people celebrated. Do you know what day that was?"

 _Beep._

"December twenty-third," Hayato guessed after contemplating a second. "Day after the solstice."

The lights dimmed for a moment before coming back to their accustomed daytime glow. The building must have been transitioning out of nightime hours. Soon Christmas day would be upon them. Ren stroked Yutsui's palm with his thumb and watched the monitors for a small jump in brain activity. Barely enough to shift a pixel.

"Not quite," the man continued. "At that point they still thought it was an accident."

"Okay, so the twenty-fourth?"

 _Beep._

The pitch sounded a quartertone higher than the last sounding.

"The day they celebrated," Ren said, barely loud enough for Hayato to hear, "is today recorded as December twenty-fifth."

 _Beep._

Ren stopped moving his thumb. The monitor had returned to its previous pitch.

Across the room, the boy brushed the trivia aside with an unimpressed, "Huh", and let the quiet settle for a moment before starting again.

"Hey, mister?"

"Yes?"

"Isn't it—I mean, don't you think it's kind of dumb that they'd celebrate then?"

"What do you mean?"

 _Beep._

"Welll," Hayato held out the last consonant in a groaning sort of mumble. "The winter only gets colder from December on out. Kinda like how the hottest days of summer are after the solstice. So if the point was improving their chances—"

"Hayato," Ren interrupted with the warming hush of a patient parent. "Did you ever like gardening?"

 _Beep._

The boy paused and Ren heard a tongue pushing past lips in a show of annoyance. After a moment of Ren not taking notice, the tongue slipped back in and Hayato shifted on his stool again. "...Not really. Mr. Minamimoto had us all take turns in the Hokkuro greenhouse so we wouldn't have to rely on supply drops. I always tried to get on the same shift as my bro. It sucked working with Mean. One-hundred percent chance of slacking whenever that happened."

"Yes, a good partner. One of many crucial factors for success. Do you know another one?"

 _Beep_.

"Water, I guess. But there's a eighty-six percent chance you meant something else."

"That's fine, it all starts with water," Ren affirmed. "But most plants also need sunlight. No sunlight means no chance of success."

"Maybe," the boy mumbled back. "That doesn't mean it promises anything, though."

"No, of course not."

 _Beep_.

Ren felt the corners of his mouth follow the beep a half-tick upward. "...But it doesn't have to. If they have the sun, they have the start of a chance. Even if the snow falls and rivers freeze, if the sun keeps getting stronger then we know it all can't last forever. The world has a chance to grow again someday."

"Or maybe it just dies in winter."

"There's always that chance."

 _Beep._

The monitor sounded stronger, if a little more distant. "But we've made it this far, haven't we? Why not hope a little longer?"

"You know, mister, it's not smart to play dumb. There's a ninety-four percent chance of debilitating depression if you don't keep that hope in check."

 _Beep._

"Six percent is still a chance."

 _Beep._

 _Beep._

 _Beep._

Across the room, monitors rose and solidified. Ren heard eyelids peeling open, breaking the three-month seal of dried fluid. A small groan that wasn't Yutsui's broke the human silence.

"B-bro?" Hayato stumbled over his own tongue before falling off his perch with a solid _thump_. A quick series of smaller thumps assured Ren the boy was scrambling to his feet. "Isamu?!"  
"Merry Christmas," Ren whispered, still looking at Yutsui's sleeping face.

 _Beep_.

He squeezed her hand, and took comfort in the fact that it was still warm.

 **-End[10]-**

 **Author's Note** :

With sparsity like this, I either feel like I'm on the brink of genius or am just falling into full-blown pretentiousness.

Anyway, after a crazy week of overtime shifts, extra-curricular kid-watching, and less socializing than lately (Finally getting that under control, I guess) I come to you with this in-betweenquelish piece of Ren's side between now and **06-Speed**. I feel like I overly indulge my more poetic sense when writing Ren just because Ren is the old-fashioned type so he actually appreciates it, but hopefully it wasn't too insufferable. Having a quiet little conversation about the light of things hoped for even with the possible end looming just in sight felt like just the right use for these prompts so I apologize if I waxed fluffy.

The sounding board for Ren's musings, Hayato the Gambler, is (naturally) another member of the Zetta Squad from **Crow's Gamble** 's _Choose the World You See_. As with other J0KERverse adaptions, the Hayato here is slightly altered from his original appearance and here is found more cynical. As a kid with a supposedly solid grasp on percentages, I feel like J0KERverse Hayato has seen enough failures to try to keep his hopes in check. He's probably a Blank, so it's likely he's been dealing with this sort of stuff for a lot longer than the otherwise normal Hayato found in the Gambleverse. However, I ultimately feel like I focused too much on the kid's ability and not enough on developing an actual personality. I mean, he's supposed to be a foil and all, but I still like me some developed characters…

As TSoS '17 draws to a close I would like to once more encourage you to go and read some other entries. Just check out the Billboard at the forum and I'm sure you'll find something worthwhile. Also, be on the lookout for Last Rose of Summer voting and such. Until then, I hope you have a great week while we move one step closer to the end with **11-One Eyed Jack** following the prompts "Sleeping in the Ashes" and "Behind the Mask".

Thanks for reading along this far,

-CG


	11. 11: One-Eyed Jack

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 11: One Eyed Jack**

By Chronic Guardian

-Minami-MATH Corp, December 2099, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #111: conversation between wards of Yutsui Koizumi as follows:

"Here, can you feel this one?"

"Sort of. I mean… I know something's in there."

"You don't say. Well, I suppose it's nice to know Yutsui isn't giving us air for Christmas."

"Mom wouldn't do that!"

"Sorry, I was being sarcastic."

"I _know_. You still shouldn't say those kinds of things about her."

"…Does it hurt? I mean, you could tell, can't you?"

"A little. She won't show it, though. I only know because I'm… well, you know..."

"Funny. I thought she liked jokes."

"She does. It's just… she does so much for us, Rue. How can you be so mean?"

"I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just doing what she would do."

"So then I have to pick up the slack and be the good son?"

"Why shouldn't you? You do it so much better than me."

"She's our mother, Rue."

"She's our guardian. And you should know she doesn't like being called that."

"She does too. She just doesn't like admitting it. Besides, she's all we've got."

"All that's still alive, anyway."

"Rue..."

"We came from somewhere, Ayumu, and it wasn't here in Deck."

"We did, but she's the only mother I can remember now."

"Is that so?"

"And you know I know it's the same for you."

"No point trying to lie about it, I suppose."

"Please, Rue. It's like your testing her, trying to see if she really loves us. Don't you know the answer already?"

"...I should, Ayumu. I really should. It's just… sometimes I'm afraid I'm wrong."

"Because of how she treats us?"

"More because sometimes it feels like we're just going through the motions. I mean, for all we know we might not even be brothers."

"Rue!"

"Can you prove it?"

"That doesn't mean it's not true! It doesn't matter where we came from, we're the family we have now. Can't you just be happy with that?"

"I guess I can try for you."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"Brother to brother?"

"Brother to brother."

-Close(DRAW#111)-

 **-Five Years Later** -

Heavy foot steps echoed down the hallway. Solid but weary. Ayumu imagined away the years and wondered what their owner looked like in his youth. Reaching out with his O-Gene, the blind Jack nudged his door open a crack more.

"Up to see the sunrise?"

The footsteps stopped and Ayumu sensed a flicker of surprise quickly buried under stern bravado. Stomping up to the doorway, the walker, one Daisuke Bito, leaned in and hissed back. "Ain't nun'ya business, half-squeak. An' don't go wakin' up the whole rag brigade over it!"

Aw, well, he _tried_ to do this the polite way. Slipping in past Daisuke's poorly constructed mental barriers, Ayumu helped himself to the actual reason. "I didn't mean to surprise you," he added in half-hearted apology.

Daisuke bristled under Ayumu's touch. "I wasn't _surprised_ , mudskipper. I just told you to keep it down. Peep's sleepin, y'know?'"

"Well then you shouldn't go stumping up to my door to yell at me," Ayumu murmured back. He could have called Daisuke out on the claim, but that wouldn't make the man accept it any more. "Besides, don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Don't be dense, crackersack, it's half-a-chuck-til." By which he meant: five-thirty. "Just doin' the mornin' business, a'ight?"

"Restrooms are the other way, Mr. Bito."

"Yeah, I'm on my way back."

"Your room is also the other way."

Dai fell silent. Ayumu already held the prize, but he wanted the man to say it out loud. _You're headed to the computer center_. Ayumu prompted in his head. _And you don't want anyone to see you_. _There are cameras, but you either don't know or aren't worried about those. You just don't want people there._

That still begged the question of "why" though. From what Ayumu could tell it wasn't something urgently new. It felt more like a nagging ache at the back of the other man's mind; Something he had checked before but needed to assure himself about. Still, Dai wasn't thinking of the exact details at the moment so Ayumu couldn't get an exact read on the situation.

It didn't help any that Daisuke Bito was the kind of man to worry over esoteric details. Maybe it really was something important, or maybe he was just checking on a package that he really should have ordered earlier. All things even, Ayumu tended to think more of the latter.

Then something relented.

"Hey," Dai rumbled. "You mean what you said to Carmel Cruncher yesterday?"

 _To Kyasako_ , Ayumu corrected silently, before murmuring a soft, "yes." Although, to be honest, he'd said they were family as much for his own sake as for hers.

The room fell silent and Dai paused leaning in the doorway. Words leaned on the tip of his tongue until eventually… "You ever think about the guys outside of deck?"

Ayumu pushed through the catch in his breath and hurried past the subject. "You mean our actual families?" He gave the ceiling a sardonic smile. "Not really."

Something in Dai shifted. He didn't like the answer. Or rather… he didn't want to like it. Part of him felt relieved, but the rest of him smothered the sentiment with pride and loyalty.

Ayumu then realized that Daisuke was a family man.

"Probably because my family's dead," the blind Jack went on. Most of them, anyway. Yutsui eventually confirmed he and Rueban were at least half-brothers with a DNA test. Given that they were barely six months apart, Ayumu almost felt happy to be adopted. What good was having a family if they didn't look out for eachother?

"Yo, Goldi-Prince."

There was a flicker of temper and Ayumu braced himself for another ridiculous lecture on how he wasn't acting like a normal human being.

Dai sighed and looked away. "...That's rough."

"It's fine," Ayumu said. He took a page out of Rue's book and stopped himself from feeling the words. Dai didn't need to know everything, especially when he wouldn't understand anyway. "I'm happy the way I am."

"Huh." The one-eyed Jack sunk a little further against the doorpost.

Ayumu felt a confused storm of desperate indignation pass through the man's heart. The thoughts danced and died faster than he could catch them. Soon the entire sentiment ran through his grasp like sand in an hourglass and he was left waiting for the next flip.

 _...Nothing._

"Mr. Bito?"

"Hey, kid," Dai began abruptly, as if he were an animatronic coming unpaused. "You ever think about the family you could've had?"

Ayumu forced his voice to stay steady. "I try not to."

An image popped through Daisuke's mind: a blond boy, like himself but younger. Bold, strong, smiling. But not at Dai. _Grandson_. The title only ghosted for a second before fading into dark with the rest of the picture.

Dai grunted. "Yeah… figures."

"Mr. Bito," Ayumu cut in just as the man was about to turn away. "Why… why are you asking me?"

For one moment Dai gripped the doorframe and stood like a giant awakened by an unwitting child. Ayumu saw possible emotions stir. Anger, exasperation, guilt. Dai teetered on the edge of hateful silence before settling into weary responsibility. "You're a Blank, right?" he asked. "You an' your brother."

"That's right," Ayumu answered with practiced nonchalance. _Poor little Blank. All broken down and lonely before life even begins._ Yutsui hadn't offered her surname and neither brother would ask, Rue out of mixed feelings on heritage and Ayumu out of respect. Still, everyone knew who they belonged to, even if their names wouldn't say it.

"You know…" Dai sighed and turned his back to the doorframe again. He slipped down until he sat crouched with his elbows resting on his knees. Ayumu was tempted to read the script being prepared in the man's head, but he restrained himself for the grand reveal."There's somethin' funny about a lotta the Blanks these days." the eye-patched Jack began. "Used to be a war orphan thing, boys and girls who lost their 'rents from the fightin' an' fallout. But a buncha the guys and gals growin' up now, they ain't orphaned by bombs, they orphaned by Noise."

Although earth-shattering to the general public, Dai's supposed juicy tidbit was common knowledge in Deck. Ayumu waited for the other shoe to drop.

"The thing about Noise," Dai went on after a beat, "They sharp as staples, even if you don't see it. An' once they figured us Deck guys were the ones fightin' 'em… well—"

The sentence cut short, but Ayumu already saw the implications in Dai's mind. A son, smart and upright. Marriage, the happiest days of his life. Golden week spent laughing over ramen like the Noise didn't exist outside. Christmas coming with presents sent between all of them, often no bigger than a rice candy tin but always beautiful and precious. The taste of Sakuma drops washing over the smoke and pain of a Noise battle. Then another wonderful day: the day his son announced a grandchild.

" _I'm naming him after you_."

And then the memories went dark. Noise tore through in an instant and left dead silence in their wake. No more warm nights catching fireflies, no more winter days hoping for a magical snowfall to make the cold worth it. Only one thing remained.

 _Grandson_.

And then, like before, the title vanished.

Dai's mind went quiet and Ayumu caught himself with his eyes watering. The blind Jack made a pass with his sleeve and took a shaky breath of cool night air. He couldn't find words to say, so he let the silence stand.

Slowly, Dai drifted back to the idea of Grandson, but this time with a more hopeful light.

 _He might be alive_ , Ayumu realized. Then, _No, he_ is _alive. But then why would Mr. Bito…?_

"Kid," Dai began again. His voice was heavier than usual, more constricted. "Did ya ever…? I mean, if you lost somebody you cared about, and you knew the reason why, wouldn't you hate that reason?"

The unsaid link rested between them, waiting for someone to say it's name. _I am that reason._ The reason Grandson didn't have a family, the reason death sought out their homes and struck with awful, early vengeance. The reason the connections were broken, lost, and forgotten.

Without meaning to, Ayumu wondered who might've called him her child besides Yutsui.

"Mr. Bito?" Ayumu said, forcing himself above a whisper.

"What is it, Goldy?"

"Maybe some connections never die. Maybe they're just asleep."

"Asleep," Dai echoed. "Huh… man, wouldn't that be nice."

Ayumu shivered and pulled his comforter up to his chin. "We came from somewhere. That doesn't change when someone dies."

Rue would be proud.

Dai arched his back against the doorframe and stretched before rising to his feet."Maybe some things are better left sleeping," he muttered. But Ayumu felt the glimmer of hope grow a little brighter.

"For now," the blind Jack agreed.

Then he closed his eyes and went back to waiting for the day to come.

 **-End[11]-**


	12. 12: Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds

**Twelve Draws of Christmas – 12: Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds**

By Chronic Guardian

-Minami-MATH Corp, December 2096, Direct Retrievable Audio Wave #112: conversation between Yutsui Koizumi and Ayane Tajima as follows:

"Ms. Koizumi?"

"Yutsui, darling. My name is Yutsui."

"Alright. Ms. Yutsui, are we going to join the morning patrol?"

"J0KER's not much for the field these days, dear. The standard Deck can handle whatever comes up in the city."

"But it's Christmas."

"Yes, and I told you during training Noise don't observe holidays. If something happens, it happens. And someone from the one-oh-four crew will handle it."

"But it's Christmas for them, too."

"You realize Christmas isn't a national holiday, right? As a technically-state-sponsored organization, Deck isn't obligated to suspend operations."

"I'm going to the comm room."

"Mmm. Planning on running to the rescue the moment you hear trouble?"

"Someone needs to be there."

"Someone _is_ there, darling. They have entire suits to look after eachother. You don't need to chase after every pin drop in kitchen sink."

"Maybe I can't save them all; but I can do _something."_

"Sure. You can get yourself erased by recklessly trying to carry the world on your shoulders. Trust me, dear, little old humans weren't built for that."

"Oh, Ms. Yutsui, you know what I mean!"

"Of course I do. I just think you're setting yourself up to get hurt."

"If we don't share the pain of others, how can we expect them to share our own?"

"Won't be able to share any pain if you drive yourself crazy."

"But someone—"

"—Needs to care. Yes, I heard you. But you can't always be that person. So turn off your radio and rest."

"Ms.—!"

" _Please_. And thank you."

"...I can't just leave them."

"I know it hurts, but you have to draw boundaries somewhere. If you can't, I'll draw them for you."

"But why?"

"Because I need you to stay sane and unresentful. You're the closest thing I've got to a friend at this point, dear."

"Then would you please come with me?"

"Ayane, darling—"

"As a friend?"

"...You're determined to waste your Christmas, aren't you?"

"It won't be wasted, just spent differently. Candy cane?"

"That won't sweeten the deal much, you know."

"I know. But it will a little."

"Yes, well… I suppose that's a start, then."

-Close(DRAW#112)-

 **-Eight Years Later-**

Christmas morning came to Tokyo like a bride riding in on her wedding day. Everyone knew it was coming, felt it gliding past in ceremonial secrecy, but no one saw it until the final blooming moment of truth. Then, as light streamed through the stained glass of parting fuchsia clouds, rosy life overtook the candlelight vigil of the city lights and signaled to the world that true celebration was now in order.

Within the Minami-MATH Tower, a Western spruce greeted the sunrise in the lobby while a Japanese pine said its hellos from the top floors in the Director's tea garden. Mr. Minamimoto had always harbored a certain fondness for foreign customs alongside his own heritage. His position as an international arbiter of O-Gene development and deployment left him well traveled and well sampled in various traditions, many of which found their way back into the MATH Tower. This year, the Director had decided Christmas would begin with family breakfast.

The inviting smell of fresh pancakes on the griddle wafted up from the kitchen and into the dormitories. Now that he was old enough to think about it, Rueban suspected the Director intended the design to lure tardy members out. Today especially, with hints of peppermint mixing with sweet rice flour, those intentions bore fruit.

The smell gently woke him around six-thirty, but he stayed in bed until seven out of stubborn habit. Rueban treated days off with the dutiful reverence of squeezing out every possible privilege. Years with Yutsui as a mentor taught him that gifts were meant to be well appreciated, and free time was no exception.

After passing the half-hour appreciating a warm bed while fully conscious, Rue finally forced himself to get up and get dressed for the day. He selected a plain white dress shirt from the closet along with his favorite jacket and a crimson waistcoat for good measure. Although Yutsui tended more towards the casual side, his fashion sense followed Ayane's more formal sensibilities. Pressed trousers, a double-winser tie, and shined black shoes all came together for the finished presentation. He looked in the mirror and allowed himself to imagine what Yutsui would say. _You look very winsome, darling._

Just behind Yutsui's image, a make-believe Ayane crossed her arms and shared a quiet smile with him. _Well done, grasshopper,_ she pronounced with mock-seriousness.

Knowing no one was looking, he bowed to the mirror before leaving for breakfast.

 **-J-**

"Hey!" Pokoni barked, hands on hips as he stood just outside the kitchen.

Amber turned to give him a quick glance before going back to whatever she was doing at the stove. Pokoni watched a set of pancakes flip up through the air before coming splat down into the frying pan again.

"Hmph!" the boy snorted and tried not to sound impressed. Amber was good at pretty much everything from what he could tell. Better not to inflate her ego any more than it already was.

She didn't look back. "Yes?"

"...That was a neat trick," Pokoni admitted, compromising with himself. He really was impressed, and he had a strict personal policy about being truthful when lying wasn't required. If she did it again, though, he'd tell her she was showing off.

"Thanks." She slipped her hand forward to almost send the pancakes flying again before tilting the skillet up and flipping them out with a spatula. "Was there something else?"

"Not really," the boy admitted, rubbing at hood resting over his scalp. The move didn't catch on any of the familiar spikes that used to be there. "Just lookin' for Ayane."

"For Aya-san?" Amber covered the pancakes and began pouring more batter into the pan. "Why?"

Pokoni screwed his face up into a frown as his hood drooped over his eyes. "Because I—!" He stopped. _No, wait. If I tell Amber, she'll tell Rueban, and if he knows about this then I'm really in trouble._ "Because why do you need ta know?" he finished defiantly. "I just need ta talk to Ayane, okay?"

Amber put down the batter bowl and returned to her hands to the skillet. "Is this about you shaving your head?"

"What, my head?" He did another casual rub to try and fool her. _Crap, she noticed_. "Nah, that's dumb. I look cool! No regrets!"

"So you did shave it," she hummed. "Were you hoping Aya-san could fix that?"

"Sure she could! Ayane can fix anything!"

Amber paused and for a moment the only sound was batter sizzling on the stove top.

"A-anyway!" Pokoni began again. "You seen her around?"

"She's not here," Amber said, gently turning over the pancakes with her spatula. "Sorry."

"Not…here?" Pokoni trailed off and tilted his head. Where could Ayane go? Wasn't it Christmas? Why wasn't she making breakfast? Why wasn't she spending time with them? Why...?

Amber was unloading the current batch of pancakes when Pokoni drifted back out of his daze. His hands balled into fists and he felt the fire in his blood rising.

"Look," Amber sighed as she moved away from the stove with a platter of finished pancakes. She walked past him into the dining room and jerked her head towards the tables in a signal to follow. The bombastic Seven punched the doorframe to vent a little frustration before reluctantly obeying.

Placing down her load, the blonde girl reached out and rubbed the top of his hood. He ducked back and gave her an irritated look.

"She's gone to visit someone," Amber finally explained.

"Okay, fine," Pokoni huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "But where?"

"She wouldn't say."

"'Cuz she doesn't want us to follow?"

"Maybe. Or maybe 'cause she's just worried."

Pokoni clamped his teeth together and peeled his lips back in a fierce grimace. "That's dumb! Why would she worry about us?"

"Because if you thought like her," Amber said, serving out a small stack of pancakes and offering it to Pokoni, "you would worry too."

 **-J-**

Arisa heard and snoozed the first twelve iterations of her six-o'clock alarm. She was about to snooze the thirteenth when she caught the scent of pancakes through the vents. She inhaled to get the full aroma rolling through her system before exhaling and letting reality remind her that she was in detention until further notice. "TJM, Aya-chan," she muttered, curling her legs up into her chest. _Deserved? Yes. But still mean._

The lights in the room were off, but the hallway lights were sending a golden stream down through a crack in the door. Arisa sighed at the mocking invitation and turned over in bed. What kind of a joke was this? Leaving the door open just so they could—

Arisa's mind then fully registered that the door was open.

Hastily rolling off her bunk in a mass of limbs tangled in blankets, Arisa stared at the opening and tried to jerk her arms free. When that method failed, she wormed her way over and basked in the glorious rays of freedom. _Oh, sweet mercy!_ she sang in her head, not daring to vocally jinx any possibility of unintentional circumstances. _Oh, sweet mother of—_

She cut herself off as she realized the open door wasn't the only gift of the morning. Sitting on the floor, propping the door open, was a fully loaded gingerbread house. And propped up against that was a good old fashioned handwritten note. Wriggling herself a little closer, Arisa managed to free one hand and pick up the message.

 _Merry Christmas,_ she read. _Don't forget to share_.

Just outside her door, she could see the rooms of other offenders in yesterday's incident were also open. That meant either someone had figured out how to hack the system without a fully operational CARD or a court member had abbreviated yesterday's disciplinary consequences. Arisa flipped over the card in her hands, hoping for another clue.

A single crimson "Q" smiled back at her in sanguine spirits. She grinned at the mark of the Red Queen.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Aya-chan."

 **-J-**

"So what's it like?"

Izo grunted. "What's what like?"

"You know, life at work," Rei clarified, watching him upside-down from her position on the couch. "What are your friends like?"

"And what causes you to presume I maintain confederations with my fellow members?"

"I dunno," Rei admitted freely. "Did you ever get to know your girlfriend any better?"

"Ignorant rambler," Izo muttered. He adjusted his glasses and went back to working on breakfast. "I never foundered nor heralded such a kinship."

Rei grinned and poked his cheek before he could block her off. "Oh, don't give me that. I'm talking about the ribbons girl! She seemed pretty into you last time."

"Pure platonic affection," Izo corrected, belatedly grabbing at his foster sister's hand. "She displays the same conversancy to anyone."

"Oh," Rei's amusement deflated into suspicion. "So she's a big flirt."

The summation, although perfectly applicable to any number of girls Izo had met, felt absolutely abhorrent when pointing towards the Red Queen. Before he could stop himself he violently twitched his head "no".

"No?" his foster sister echoed, tilting her head to the side. "What, do you like her back? C'mon, Fos-Bro, don't leave me hangin'. What's going on?"

He pressed his lips together and let his opinions settle before stating, "She does her best to make sure no one's forgotten."

Rei paused and gave him a look blank with shock. "Simple as that?"

He glared back. "Is it that so difficult to believe?"  
"Fos-Bro… you just talked like a normal person. You feelin' okay?"

Izo blinked, rewound the conversation in his mind, then felt a tiny something sink as he realized that yes he had just given his sister the straight version of his thoughts. And yet, no matter how much he moved his mouth in silent correction, nothing else would come out. Slowly, he closed his jaw and nodded. "Yes."

"You sure?"

"Indubitably, Tyke."

"Ah," her smile returned and she clapped her hands together. " _There's_ the Izo I know."

Izo nodded again and went back to breakfast before he could say anything more incriminating.

 **-J-**

The dining hall was already a mess by the time Leo made it to breakfast. Amber reported that most of it was Pokoni doing his impression of a human tornado before he went out for the day. Leo took this as a sign both that the food was good enough to induce a feeding frenzy and that Pokoni was finally letting yesterday's consequences catch up to him.

 _And Reiko thought_ I _was reckless!_ He shook his head and took a seat. Across the table, his Ten was talking with the Red Ace herself. Apparently they were early riser buddies. Dishing himself out some pancakes, he settled down to listen for a good entering break in the conversation.

"So we can't start without her," Reagan sighed, pushing pancake bits around with her fork.

"Not in good conscience, anyway," Reiko agreed, tapping her own utensil to her lips. "But there's really not much we can do about it in the first place."

"Then what are we supposed to do, wait?"

"Wait?" Leo repeated. His tongue almost recoiled from the word as if it were a moldy riceball. Forcing his way past the gag reflex, Leo worked his jaw a little and tried again. "Wait for what?"

"For Ayane to come back," Reagan said without breaking stride. "Apparently Amber's the only one whose seen her all morning. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem. But today..."

"Apparently Ms. Tajima is in the habit of presiding over the Christmas events," Reiko finished. "Until she shows up we're more or less at a stalemate."

Leo made a comical face. "What? No one else can do that?"

"No one else can do it right," Reiko rejoined calmly, putting down his argument with all the grace of a silent assassin. "And considering how much this day means to certain members—"

"Like who?" Leo cut in.

"Like Kyasako and Pokoni," the Red Ace continued. "Now, please don't interrupt. Basically, Ayane's chosen a particularly inopportune time to go missing. And even though we know she can handle herself against the Noise we still need her here to carry out her social functions."

"Maybe she needed a break from it all," Reagan suggested, gently wagging her fork at the older woman. "Maybe she's went out to see if we could handle this ourselves."

"Perhaps," Reiko said, but Leo could immediately sense her lack of conviction. "The problem is, it just wouldn't be the same without her."

"Well… yeah." Leo gave a rueful grin and scratched at the back of his head. "But isn't that kind of obvious?"

Reagan shook her head. "It's more than that," she said as she leaned forward on folded arms. Her eyes tracked something invisible on the far wall. "Ayane's like the heart of the J0KER family. Without her, we'd all drift apart—assuming we didn't go for eachother's throats first."

"Wait," Leo frowned and tapped out an uneven beat with his fork. "Didn't you say a second ago that maybe she's testing—?"

"Tri-directional thinking," Reagan said, showing her hands palms out. "I never said I agreed with myself."

"All that to say we're up the creek without a paddle until her royal highness comes back," Reiko put in before the conversation could further derail itself. "So what can we do but wait?"

Leo shrugged. "We can go after her." It felt like the obvious answer, but someone had to say it. "Maybe she needs help. If we're not there for her, who will be?"

Reiko gave him a veiled look, as if she were calculating his intelligence behind her soft smile. "Ms. Tajima seemed very determined to be alone."

"And I'm very determined to be there the moment she changes her mind," Leo answered, putting his fork down. Breakfast could wait. "Now, are you coming or not?"

The Red Ace's face went completely blank. Then, after a moment, she returned to her soft smile and swept a hand in front of herself. _Be my guest_.

In other words, he was on his own.

Leo nodded and left the table.

 **-J-**

By the time word about the Queen got around to Getotsu, it was eight o'clock and the Director had yet to post an official notice. The Black Ace had struck out on his own to try and find her in the city and the Red Seven was soon to follow. In Getotsu's mind, however, the situation called for more tact. Thus, he found himself asking the best man he could for background information: Collin Graves. Unfortunately, Mr. Graves was being less than cooperative.

"No, I can't track her CARD," Mr. Graves denied, still tinkering with something at his dorm room desk. "One: because she's a Court Member with ghost-mode privileges, and two: because I trust her enough to feel she knows what she's doing."

"To feel?" Getotsu pressed, trying very hard not to sound incredulous. "You're basing this on a feeling?"

"Basing it on user data, actually," the Red Two corrected. "But that's not the point. Sometimes people need to be who they are without worrying that someone else is watching. Even if you're not putting on any masks, sometimes it's important to just be alone and reflect."

"And sometimes they need someone to listen, even if they didn't ask for it" Getotsu shot back. "Please, Mr. Graves, there must be something."

Mr. Graves looked up from his work and gave a slight frown. "You want to listen to Ayane?"

"If it will help, yes."

"Then stay put," Mr. Graves said with finality. "Ayane said she'll be back."

 **-J-**

Ayumu woke up feeling strangely hollow, like he was missing a necessary weight that should be inside. It felt the same when he was away from Mother or when Rue tried to put distance between them, only this time it didn't feel gone so much as misplaced. It was right on the edge of coming back, if he could just give it the proper time to slip in.

He went through a mental checklist of the situation with Rue. Not stellar, but better than last year. He'd sort of gotten used to the hole Yutsui left. It still hurt, but something else usually muffled the pain. Today, that something else was missing.

Ayumu shook his head to himself, splaying his gold-fringed hair over his pillow. Maybe he'd just stayed up too late lecturing Dai. Maybe—

 _Hey, Ayumu._ Rue tugged at the edge of his consciousness. There was an urgent shadow to his tone. _Do you know where Ayane went?_

Suddenly Ayumu realized what was missing.

 **-J-**

" _She's_ … _different. Ms. Ayane Tajima is truly an anomaly._ _"_

Ren squeezed Yutsui's hand as he listened to her voice. Not from her current breath, but from the recorded audio logs she'd left behind as former King of J0KER. In the early years she tried to cling to the remnants of the organization until the last stragglers found their way into the standard Deck program. After that, Ayane was the first true recruit during Yutsui's tenure. To hear her talk about the experience was like hearing her discover a daughter she didn't know she had.

" _She gives herself to everyone,"_ Yutsui went on. _"_ _she binds herself to anyone, she reaches out and touches the world as it is. She brings it close. And yet… I worry about her. Unless someone in the world does the same back for her, she'll eventually break. It's not exactly something you can ask for, I know. But I hope… I hope someday we're the family she needs. The people waiting for her when she comes home from it all._ "

 _Indeed_ , Ren thought. _Every Queen needs a nation, just as every nation needs a Queen._

Only together could they face the world.

 **-J-**

Sitting across from the elevator entrance, a bag of peppermints in her hands, Kyasako slipped in and out of a light doze. The rest of the building buzzed in disarray as everyone searched desperately for the Queen, but Kya only felt a light poke, like someone gently reminding her to stay awake.

Ayane would come back. There was no question for Kyasako. Ayane said she would be back, so that was what had to be true.

So she sat there waiting for Ayane while the rest of the world blurred around her. She imagined the older girl showing up any second; sometimes a fairy with gossamer wings, sometimes a princess with a flowing gown, always beautiful, and always smiling.

Kya thought of her first days in J0KER. Ayane was the first one to really talk to her, the first to notice her outside the training rooms and treat her like a real person. Even when training got hard or other people got mean, Ayane was still there.

And yet, as the years went on, Kya began to feel hesitant about going to Ayane. As more and more members joined, Ayane got busier and busier keeping track of everyone and making sure they were okay. She always kept the door open, but some days she seemed like a broken doll staring off into space, unfocused eyes just short of glassy. She was reaching her limit.

So Kya did the best she could to not bother the wonderful Ayane. Instead of sticking close to her hero to soak in as much warmth and love as possible, Kya would wait for the sweet moments when they just so happened to meet. They would share a break, fifteen carefully measured minutes of quiet joy, before separating again. Ayane never planned for it, but she would always stop. That was what Kya loved the best.

In a way it felt like cheating, then. Sitting at the elevator doors knowing Ayane would come back. The moment the doors opened, Ayane would see her and know the one Christmas present she was really hoping for. Ayane would have to give it to her.

But that wasn't what Ayane needed most.

So Kya decided that she wouldn't take it. She would only give the peppermints and then leave, say she had something else to do. Ayane didn't know how to say no so Kya would have to do it for her.

The younger girl took a light breath and squeezed the bag of peppermints. Maybe if she was lucky Ayane would already be busy. The doors would open and she would brush past, barely even having time to take the peppermints. Yes, that would probably be best.

Then, just as she imagined it, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. There was Ayane, perfect Ayane, with that far off look in her eyes that made Kya want to cry. She looked at Kya without seeing her and just stood there. Just as the doors were starting to close, she stirred and a surprised panic crossed her face.

Without thinking about it, Kya moved forward to put her hand in the way. The doors bumped, stopped, and then opened again.

And then she was staring face to face with an Ayane who saw her.

"H-hey," Kya managed. Then silence. Crap. What was she supposed to say? "Did you… umm… did you do what you wanted?"

"I saw someone I missed," Ayane murmured.

Kya gave a soft "Oh." Of course. Ayane wasn't a Blank. She had a life outside Deck. Trying to keep her wound up in the world of Noise and orphans was just cruel. She probably didn't even want to come back, she was just too nice not to. "Who… who was it?"

"My father." Ayane seemed to brighten for a moment before she drifted back towards her dazed state. "He's… been gone a while now."

"Does he work far away?"

A sad smile flickered across the young woman's face. "I'm sorry, Kya. I meant he passed away."

Kya felt her mouth open. She tried to force out an apology, but her throat went dry and it came off as a strangled wheeze.

"Are you alright?"

And then there was Ayane, trying to save Kya when she was hurting herself.

"I'm… sorry," Kya forced out in between swallows. "I didn't..."

"You couldn't have known," Ayane assured her. "I don't usually… well, I haven't at all for a few years now. This Christmas just felt a little different, I suppose. He always loved Christmas. It's just… I'm sorry."

Kya threw her hands up. "No, don't worry, I just-I… uh. Here." She held out the peppermints and waited for Ayane to take them.

"...Thank you," Ayane lifted the package out of her hands and gave a smile that reached all the way to her eyes. "But… if it's not too much trouble, I was wondering if I could ask for something else."

Kya paused. "Oh?"

"I need someone to talk to for a while," Ayane said. She fished a peppermint out of the package and offered it back to her younger compatriot. "Would you mind keeping me company?"

They shared a relieved smile as Kya took the candy.

"Sure," she answered. "I'd love to."

-End[12]-

Author's Note

So… yes. That's the end. Was it kind of a mistake to do both a capstone/epilogue piece and a character focus on Ayane? Yeah, probably. However, as a piece about both Ayane's relationships (Queen of Hearts) and her social/structural significance (Queen of Diamonds), it works enough. Although the rest of the J0KERs carry out personal relationships to some degree or another, Ayane is the glue that keeps the group healthy and happy. But who watches the watchers, hmm? I just hope it wasn't too scattered…

Special thanks for finishing this chapter go to the ever brilliant Aviantei, who invaded my living room this afternoon and motivated me with promises of Persona 5.

However, seeing as this is the capstone, if you somehow made it to the end of this collection and enjoyed something here then consider dropping a review. Or, even better, consider checking out the other stories with a [Twelve Shots of Summer] tag. Especially with the election of TSoS Allstars coming up, we would really appreciate all the help we can get in determining the most worthy entries we've had over the years. If you liked this collection, consider checking out **06-J0KER Private Match: Speed,** but there are plenty of other gems hiding in the archives.

Finally, a very special thank again to Amulet Misty, the best of the best and the queen of the jokers. Here's to you, kid. Thanks for being fantastic.

Until we meet again, all my love,

-CG


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